Finding the hidden feelings
by ameyab97
Summary: Ash has finally won the Kalos League and he and his companions are ecstatic at the win. He has decided to train hard for challenging the Elite Four and Diantha and heads home. Meanwhile, Team Rocket has decided to stop playing games and the boss replaces a few members. What will Ash do as the danger approaches? Amourshipping, Ash x Serena. First fanfic. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, everyone! Welcome to my very first fanfiction! I have read quite a lot of stories on this site and decided to try my hand writing one. I know I won't be the best but I would like you guys to tell me how you like my story.**

 **This is going to be an amourshipping story and my version of how pokémon animé (at the end of XY series) should end. Here is the summary (I suck at summaries):**

 **Ash has finally won the Kalos League and he and his companions are ecstatic at the win. He has decided to train hard for challenging the Elite Four and Diantha and heads home. Meanwhile, Team Rocket has decided to stop playing games and the boss replaces a few members. What happens next might change everything. What will Ash do as the danger approaches?**

 **Also, I have decided to try and stick to the animé as much as possible. Therefore, there won't be any cursing (or very minor) and I am not going to include any weapons. Since this will be my first time writing, it would be great if you guys help me out. The updates will be slow (sometimes very slow) because of my college and all. Now, onward with the story!**

 **A few notes:**

"Regular font in quotes" indicates normal human speech.

 _Italicized font when mentioned directly_ indicates thoughts and will indicate flashbacks.

* * *

CHAPTER 1

"And the winner of today's finals is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

Ash stood in shock as he heard the announcer declare him the winner. He had done it! He had actually won the Kalos league! His Charizard, stood out there in the field, proud of having helped his master – no, his friend – win the league. His friends, Clemont and Bonnie, who were siblings, and Serena were cheering for him loudly. They were all really happy that he had won. They had seen him train hard for every gym match as well as the league, had seen him struggle and come out on top of the gym leaders he challenged – Clemont being one of them – and had helped him train and all that had paid off.

His partner and best friend, Pikachu, was ecstatic that they had won the league. He had been standing beside him during the entire match, cheering on his pokémon friends as they were battling; the excitement of the match keeping them going. Everything they had done so far had contributed to the win in the league.

Their opponent was looking on in shock at what had happened. He was sure he had won the league. The final moves both pokémon used had been so strong that they had cracked the whole battlefield. He looked on as he saw his ace pokémon, Blastoise, drop on its knee before finally fainting and deciding the result of the match.

The stadium was silent as everyone waited for the dust to settle down. As the dust settled down, they saw Blastoise fainting while Charizard, who had reverted back from its mega evolved form after the final attack, was still standing on its knee, tired out after the whole ordeal. The silence was shattered as the whole stadium erupted in cheers for the new winner.

Charizard turned around and faced his trainer who had helped him learn many things and had stood by him, no matter what. He flew towards him and seeing that he was still shocked, burnt him. Ash snapped out of his shock as he felt himself being burnt. He returned Charizard to his pokéball while Pikachu jumped on his shoulder. It took some time for him to realize that he had actually won the league. As soon as he realized that, he was overjoyed.

Ash's opponent came over after thanking and returning his Blastoise to his pokéball. He stared at Ash for a while, and then admitted grudgingly that he really deserved the victory. They shook hands and he walked away. Suddenly, Ash felt a pair of arms wrapping around him as someone tackled him. The force was too much for him so he lost his balance and fell on the ground with the person on top of him.

Serena was quite glad that Ash had won. She couldn't believe it. She, along with her friends, Clemont and Bonnie, started running towards him, wanting to congratulate him for his win in the Kalos league. Serena ran ahead of the siblings but she tripped on her own foot, tackling Ash into a hug, which made them both fall on the ground with Serena on top of him. She soon realized the position they were in and blushed hard, trying to cover it with her hands.

She got up from her position on top of Ash but couldn't look around due to the fact that her face was still red from what had happened. She had accidentally hugged her crush from behind and hadn't even been thinking while doing it. It was true that she had tripped but she couldn't help being flustered. Meanwhile, Ash was still getting his bearings since he got hit on his head when falling. He saw both, Pikachu and Serena, looking at him in concern.

"Are you okay, Ash?" Serena asked, her voice barely audible, her face still red from what had happened.

"Wha...Oh, um...Yeah, I'm okay." Ash said as he was getting up, not knowing Serena had hugged him. But he never got up because he was tackled into another hug, this time by Bonnie, who was really excited to see her friend win the league.

"That was the most awesome battle I have ever seen, Ash. You were awesome." Bonnie yelled in his ear. But before she could make Ash go deaf, her brother came up behind her and pulled her away from him with his Aipom arm.

"That was a great battle, Ash. You used such great unpredictable strategies to overcome your opponent." Clemont said as he helped Ash up, his tone of voice telling he was clearly impressed.

"I actually won the league." Ash yelled at the top of his lungs, pumping his fist in the air.

All this while, Serena had been listening to everything but she still was too embarrassed to join in the conversation. She didn't know that Bonnie had seen her hugging Ash and had kept quiet about it. Serena had also forgotten that the Kalos league, being one of the strongest leagues, is broadcasted all over the world. So, it didn't occur to her that many people other than Bonnie had seen what she had done.

 ** _Pallet Town, Kanto_**

"And the winner of today's finals is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

This could be heard in every house in the small town. As soon as the winner was announced, a great resounding cheer was heard throughout the town. The whole town was delighted that a trainer from there had actually won a league. But no one was happier than a certain light-brown haired woman. She had seen him grow up from a kind, caring yet reckless kid to a great persevering, determined trainer that he was now.

Delia, Ash's mother, was on cloud nine. Her son had won the league! She had always been optimistic and had always supported him in everything he had done. And she couldn't have been happier. Her partner pokémon and housekeeper, Mr. Mime, was just as happy.

The next thing she saw surprised her. She saw a honey-blonde haired girl running and hugging Ash from behind. From what she could see, it didn't look like she had tripped, making the hug quite cute. The girl looked quite familiar, almost as if she had seen her somewhere before, but she couldn't remember. She thought mischievously that she had got a reason to tease her son (other than under-wears, of course) when he comes home - a girlfriend.

Meanwhile at Professor Oak's lab, Professor Oak, Tracey and the rest of Ash's pokémon were celebrating his win in the league. They were elated because they knew how many times Ash had tried his hand at the league and failed. But this time Ash had managed to win the league proving that if you are determined, no one can stop you from achieving your dreams.

They soon saw Serena hug Ash. Everyone was shocked to see that Ash actually had a girlfriend! As the camera zoomed in to their position, they saw the girl's head bent down towards the ground as though she was embarrassed. That told them that even she hadn't been expecting this. Professor Oak thought she seemed vaguely familiar. Maybe he had seen her somewhere but being old as he was; his memory had become somewhat weak so he couldn't recognize her.

 ** _Cerulean Gym, Cerulean City, Kanto_**

The redheaded gym leader was watching Kalos league shown live on TV. She was rooting for Ash with whom she had travelled throughout Kanto and Johto. She hadn't known travelling with him would change her life so much. Ever since she had started travelling with him, she learned many things for her to become the toughest water-type gym leader in Kanto. She thought of him as her little brother, a brother she never had.

Misty reflected on her life so far and compared it before and after her journey. She knew that her life after the journey has been way better than before it. She learned how to make pokémon trust humans, how to take care of them, how to train them and much more. Even her sisters now respect her for the great trainer she is, something they could never be. But some things never change. Misty still hadn't gotten over her fear of bug-types and it was still difficult for her to control her temper.

She watched the finals in anticipation. This was the farthest Ash had ever reached in a league; he can't lose now. She watched as the announcer declared the winner. For a moment she thought she had misheard, but she hadn't. He had done it! He had actually won! She couldn't believe it. This showed just how far he had come from the reckless and stupid boy she knew.

She decided to go to his hometown, Pallet town, and wait for him there. Of course, she could go to Professor Oak's lab and meet him and Gary. She couldn't help but blush as she thought about Gary. She didn't know or remember when she had fallen for him but she had. She had a feeling that he might like her back as well but she wasn't so sure.

As she watched the post-battle celebration where Ash would be awarded the trophy, what she saw left her dumbfounded. She saw this girl hug Ash. She didn't expect that the densest boy on earth would actually have a girlfriend! She soon saw the awkwardness of the situation the girl was in because soon after the hug she got up and looked quite red. They were soon joined by two blondes, probably siblings, as one of them jumped on Ash.

Misty switched off the TV and decided to head to Pallet at once. She decided to ask Ash about his girlfriend while she would spend some time with Gary, she thought, blushing about the last part.

 ** _Petalburg Gym, Petalburg City, Hoenn_**

A brunette was watching TV with her brother Max, her father and the current gym leader Norman and his wife Caroline. They were all watching Kalos league and all of them were rooting for Ash.

Norman had known him for a short time but he knew he had the potential to win. Max was watching every move he made and he knew that he had come far from when he had known him. Ash had promised him a battle as soon as he became a trainer and Max was going to make sure he fulfilled that promise. Ash was like a brother to him and he wanted to see him win. Caroline had also seen Ash's determination and was thankful that her daughter had such a best friend. The brunette herself was quite excited to see him win.

May thought about how much Ash had changed from when she last saw him in Sinnoh, travelling with another coordinator named Dawn. She never thought that travelling with him, after his Pikachu burnt her bike, would change her life to such an extent. She had wanted to be a Pokémon trainer just so that she could travel the world. She had actually hated Pokémon then! Travelling with Ash and his friend, Brock, opened up a whole new world for her. She discovered her dream of becoming the top coordinator in the world. Even her brother, Max, with whom she would always quarrel, had supported her to follow her dream.

She had met a whole lot of people, made some great friends and rivals and even learned to love Pokémon, something she had never thought would have happened! In short, travelling with Ash and Brock had changed her view of the world. She also remembered how Ash ate food; the only person who could challenge her in an eating race and win. She had huge appetite for food, quite like Ash and both of them loved to eat. Brock, she thought, made the best food ever. She and Ash would finish eating in minutes while Max and Brock had only finished half of their first helping, a thing never ceasing to amaze them. She chuckled at that thought.

She also remembered the time when Brock would start flirting with any pretty girl they came across. She never understood why he did that. Whenever he would flirt, Max would go near him and would pull his shirt or his ear, a thing he picked after they met Misty, Ash and Brock's first travelling companion. May saw the brother-sister relationship Misty had with Ash and she saw her develop the same kind of relationship with Max. No wonder Max trusted her.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the announcer announce the winner. And boy was she thrilled! Her best friend had won the Kalos league, one of the toughest leagues in history! They saw how shocked Ash looked as if he was never expecting to win the league. Everyone was excited at the win. It seemed quite a few times that Ash was going to lose, but being Ash, he turned the tables around and won. His first step to become a Pokémon Master!

Soon, a girl hugged Ash from behind, stunning the family. They weren't expecting that. It took some time for them to realize that Ash might have got a girlfriend. May recovered from her shock first and squealed excitedly, thinking Ash had actually got a girlfriend. She was the type of girl who was interested in romantic stuff and she had known, after travelling with Ash, that he was dense and oblivious to that. So this 'accidental' hug excited her.

Her squeal brought the rest of the family out of their stupor, as they continued watching the celebrations. Soon after the hug, two blonde-haired people, probably Ash's travelling companions joined the two teens. One of them jumped on Ash before he could get up. She looked like a small child, around Max's age. As the camera zoomed in, the family except Max saw the girl who had hugged Ash, staring at the ground, embarrassed while Max was focused on the girl who had later jumped on Ash.

 _She looks quite cute_ , he thought, _Wait, did I really think that?_ While Max was confused about his own thoughts, he hadn't averted his gaze from the girl and May, who turned to him to talk about something, caught him staring at the girl.

 _Well, it looks like dear Max is going to get a girlfriend._ She thought grinning secretly.

"You know what," Norman said, attracting the attention of the rest, "We should head towards Pallet Town and congratulate him personally for his win in the league."

"Of course, we must, Dad," May and Max said in unison. Caroline just nodded. They all headed to their rooms, quite tired due to all the excitement of the finals while Norman decided to book plane tickets to Kanto and headed out towards the airport.

 ** _Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh_**

A blue-haired girl was eating breakfast with her mother, sitting and watching TV. She was awaiting the result of the Kalos league finals. Her close friend, more like a brother, was battling in the finals, the farthest he had ever reached in any league so far. Her partner pokémon, Piplup, was just as excited as her. Her mother's partner Pokémon, Glameow, was sleeping on the window sill. The girl's name was Dawn.

Dawn had travelled with Ash through Sinnoh to achieve her goal of becoming the best coordinator in Sinnoh, just like her mother. She had always wanted to prove to her mother that she had it in her to become a coordinator. She had first come across Ash's Pikachu being chased by Team Rocket and had helped him get out of their clutches for a while so that she could take him to a Pokémon center to heal him. She set out to find Ash with the help of Professor Rowan, Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy. Meanwhile, Ash had met up with Brock once again and followed the instructions of Professor Rowan. He finally found Pikachu and Dawn and helped them get rid of Team Rocket.

Dawn remembered how they decided to travel together to her first contest and later throughout Sinnoh region. She remembered how they both didn't get along very well at first, quarrelling quite a lot of times over Dawn's inexperience with Pokémon. But they soon got used to each other's ways and supported each other through whatever they did, many-a-times exchanging hi-fis.

She remembered the rivals she made on her journey – Zoey, Kenny and a few more. She also remembered the tasty food Brock made for them in their journey; he really was a great cook. She remembered how Brock flirted with girls before being knocked out by a Poison Jab in his stomach by his Croagunk. She chuckled at that thought.

But before she could think about anything more, she heard her mother say out loud, "Look Dawn!"

She heard the winner's name and jumped for joy. Finally, after trying hard so many times, her friend – no, her brother – had actually won the league, that too, one of the toughest leagues! Her mother, Johanna, was just as happy. Ash was like her son and his winning the league was quite a big achievement.

As the camera turned towards Ash to get his reaction, Dawn and her mother were amazed to see a girl hugging Ash, the whole situation looking quite awkward yet adorable. They knew for a fact that Ash was dense as anything and his getting a girlfriend was the last possible thing, they thought, that would happen to him.

"Awww, doesn't it look just adorable?" Dawn said to her mother who nodded and replied, "No wonder Kalos is called a romantic region."

While seeing him get pushed down again by a blonde girl, Dawn said, "I know! Why don't we go to his hometown to congratulate him personally? What do you say, Mom, Piplup?"

Piplup agreed with her immediately. But her mother looked at her and said, "I am sorry, Dawn. I can't come with you. I have been invited to judge a contest in Alamos Town and it would take a few days." Dawn looked sad but Johanna smiled and continued, "But if the contest ends in 3 days or so, I will come there directly. So don't worry about me. You and Piplup, go and have fun."

"Great. Thanks, Mom," Dawn said happily before turning around and heading towards her room to pack, excited to meet Ash and Pikachu after such a long time.

 ** _Lily of the Valley Island, Sinnoh_**

A purple-haired trainer was watching the Kalos league broadcasted live on the TV screens there along with a crowd of people. He had known Kalos was one of the toughest regions; he wanted to see just how tough.

A few years earlier, he was defeated in the quarter finals of the Sinnoh league at the same place he was at now. His opponent was a certain trainer, he had considered weak but the trainer had proved him wrong by not only defeating him in the quarter finals but by also being the only trainer to defeat a Darkrai in the semifinals.

Seeing the same trainer in Kalos league had surprised him but he managed to hide his surprise. He hated showing extreme emotions. Ash had gained his respect after defeating him in the quarter finals of the Sinnoh League. After learning that, he had defeated Brandon, the toughest Frontier Brain in Kanto, while he himself had lost gave him the motivation to give it a try once again. He won against Brandon and was given the privilege to become a frontier brain but wanting to travel more, he declined.

Paul had hated Ash's training style and vice versa. While he used to be brutal and wicked to his Pokémon, releasing them if they didn't meet his expectations, Ash had always considered them to be his friends; something he never understood until he saw the strong bond he had formed with his Infernape. The Infernape had once been a weak Chimchar he owned, easily scared of Zangoose but had overcome its fears with the help of Ash.

Being defeated by Ash had made him respect him and his training style. He now wasn't as brutal and wicked as he had been at first, but he still used harsh words of encouragement to see how far his Pokémon can go; occasionally praising them if they learned any new moves and thanking them after a good battle.

Paul saw how Ash won the league and decided to challenge him to a battle as soon as he returns to his hometown – and get his revenge. He headed towards the airport to get a ticket to Kanto.

 ** _Striaton Gym (-cum-restaurant), Striaton City, Unova_**

The three gym leaders (and waiters) had been watching the Kalos league on the TV and saw how a certain challenger was winning the matches with his unpredictable battling style. One of the gym leaders was red-haired, hot headed, fire-type specialist; the second one was blue-haired, cool headed, water-type specialist and the last one, who had travelled with him, was green-haired, grass-type specialist. The customers in the restaurant were watching the match along with the three of them.

"What do you think, Cilan?" The red-haired gym leader asked, turning towards his green-haired brother, as the finals started.

"I don't know. It's still too early to decide yet, Chili," Cilan replied. "He has been battling great so far and he is quite stronger than the last time we saw him."

The blue-haired gym leader said. "You are right about that, Cress," Cilan said, "His battling skills have improved since I last saw him."

Cilan thought back to the day he first met Ash and remembered how surprised he was when he challenged all the three brothers for their gym badge. He had been quite impressed with his battling skills. Ash had amazed him many times, even when the situation wasn't in his favor. He remembered why he had decided to go on with Ash on his journey – to become the top connoisseur.

He remembered how he, Ash and Iris had travelled through Unova and Decolore Islands before heading to Kanto where they split up with Iris heading to Johto while he himself heading to Hoenn. He remembered how fond Ash was of food; and whenever Ash did or said anything stupid, Iris would be there, ready to call him a 'kid' while acting like one herself.

His thoughts were interrupted as he felt his brothers shove him. "What were you thinking about, Cilan?" Cress asked, concerned about his brother.

Cilan shook his head and said, "Not much. Only thinking about my journey with Ash."

Chili and Cress looked at each other, and then Chili asked, "Why don't you go on a journey again, if you want to?"

"Yeah, don't worry about the gym. We will take care of it." Cress added.

"Really?" Cilan asked as he glanced slyly at his brothers. Seeing their confused expressions, he continued, "I did the same thing when I first went on my journey with Ash and do you remember what happened? You two couldn't seem to beat a certain ice-type trainer who was threatening to turn our gym into an ice-type one, once she defeats all three of us."

Realizing who he was referring to, both of them scratched the back of their heads as Chili said, "Oh, yeah. About that…"

But before they could continue their banter, they heard the winner of the final match being announced. All three of them were thrilled to know that the winner was their friend, Ash.

"I know what to do!" Cilan said suddenly, attracting his brothers' attention, "I will first head to Pallet Town to congratulate Ash and then I will continue to Sinnoh region for my next journey."

"That makes sense." Cress agreed, as he nodded and got up followed by Chili and Cilan.

"You will also be able to meet the famous Professor Oak." Chili added as he switched off the TV.

"Yeah and I have a lot of juicy, tasty questions to ask him." Cilan said as he headed towards his room to pack up. Cress decided to book his brother's ticket and headed towards airport while Chili stayed at the gym-cum-restaurant to wait on all the customers who had suddenly become hungry after the excitement of the match.

 ** _Nuvema Town, Unova_**

"Professor Juniper…" A high-pitched voice was heard as a girl came running at the Pokémon Research center in the small town, with a Gible in her hands. The girl had purple hair; so long they reached up to her knees. The Gible in her hands was injured badly as could be seen by the cuts on its body. Hearing the voice, a woman came from a hall on her right. She had orange hair and was wearing a lab coat, indicating she was one of the researchers in the lab.

"Who is it? Oh, Iris… and what happened to Gible?" Her voice showed concern as she walked over to Iris to check up on the Pokémon in her hands. She looked on all the damage and said, "Gible isn't injured too badly but it would take some time for its wounds to heal. Why don't you wait here in the reception while I get your Gible treated?"

"Sure, Professor Juniper, I will." Iris said, trying to calm herself down. She knew getting worried and worked up wasn't going to help Gible heal. She knew she had made a bad decision while choosing her newly-caught Gible to battle against her opponent's strong Gallade. She was feeling stupid for putting Gible at risk, even though it trusted her.

"Have you seen the Kalos league, Iris?" She suddenly heard the professor's voice coming through the hall. "Oh yeah, I forgot the Kalos league was going to start in a few days." Iris replied to the professor. Professor Juniper raised an eyebrow at her. Iris continued, "I had been travelling from Castelia City and I didn't come across many Pokémon centers so I couldn't keep tabs on the league."

"Well, Ash is in the finals of the league right now." The professor said, shocking Iris. Her Axew, who was resting in the big forest her hair was, was shocked just as much. The immature kid, they knew, was in the finals of one of the toughest leagues in the world! Switching on the TV, they saw him battling out there with his Pokémon, all of them excited as they waited for the result.

Seeing Ash's enthusiasm as he battled made Iris remember her journey with him through Unova. She had always been surprised at his enthusiasm at everything, especially when it came to pokémon battles. They had met when Ash had thought her to be a pokémon and had aimed a pokéball at her. She couldn't believe at his immaturity then. But as they travelled, together with Cilan, he proved to her that he wasn't as immature as she made him out to be, but of course, only when it came to thinking unpredictable strategies in battles. She had still thought him to be immature in other everyday chores.

She remembered how she had hugged Pikachu quite hard – seeing one for the first time – and had got a thunderbolt as her punishment. As she thought about her journey through the Decolore Islands as well, she remembered going to a fair dedicated to Kanto region. She remembered how excited both, she and Ash were to be able to go and see such a unique fair. She had called Ash, a kid, for being excited but now that she thought of it, she had been just as excited and had been acting like a kid too. She felt embarrassed as she thought about her immaturity.

"And the winner of today's finals is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town." The announcer's voice interrupted her thoughts and she was quite pleased to know that her friend had won the league.

"You know what," her thoughts were interrupted once again as she turned her head towards the professor, "I wish I could go to congratulate him personally. But I am busy with my research." The professor's words made her think about planning another trip to Kanto but, this time, heading towards Pallet Town.

"Gible!" Her thoughts were interrupted yet again, as she saw her newest friend running towards her. Gible jumped in her arms and started cuddling to her, making her giggle.

"Gible is all well now." A male voice said. She turned to see another man in white coat, heading towards them.

 _Another of the researchers_ , Iris thought. Professor Juniper thanked the man, as he turned around with a wave of his hand.

"I think I know where we are heading next," Iris whispered to Gible and Axew.

"Did you say something, Iris?" She turned her head around to see the professor looking at her curiously.

"I was just thinking about heading to Kanto, you know, to congratulate Ash on his win." She replied.

"Then do tell him that I congratulated him as well."

"Sure."

 ** _Professor Sycamore's Lab, Lumiose City, Kalos_**

Professor Sycamore, with his lab assistant, Sophie, was watching the Kalos league. He knew about Ash's determination to win the league and he had supported him to follow the dream. Seeing him win would only help his research with mega-evolution because it would showcase his bond with his Pokémon, a key fact for any trainer to achieve mega-evolution. Ash had been doing great so far and everyone was expecting something from him; if he couldn't win the league, he should at least be a runner-up.

The professor had been keeping an eye on Ash's Charizard. He had seen the strong bond the Charizard and its trainer shared. He had seen how the pokémon trusted its trainer, knowing he wouldn't do anything reckless that would put the pokémon at risk. It just rooted for the fact of having a strong bond between them, the reason Charizard had not lost its control even while mega-evolving for the first time.

As soon as he heard the winner, he was exultant and turned around to hug his assistant, only to catch air as he fell on the ground, his assistant having dodged his sudden hug. Sophie had had a feeling that the professor may try something as she remembered how he had tried to do the same thing when Serena had won her first showcase. So, she had been expecting this. She dodged as soon as he lunged at her, missing only by a few centimeters. She switched off the TV and advised the professor to concentrate on his research instead of girls as she herself headed towards the lab, leaving the professor on the ground.

 ** _Lumiose Gym, Lumiose City, Kalos_**

A brown-haired man was working on an electric heater that had been damaged due to excess electricity. His partners Amphorous and Blaziken were there beside him, helping him in any way they could. Beside them, a magnemite, a magneton and a heliolisk along with a robot were watching the Kalos league on TV. The robot looked like Clemont, the Lumiose Gym Leader, complete with the lightning bolt-shaped strand of hair on its head. The robot was Clembot, one of the many ingenious inventions of the Gym Leader and one of the very few ones that hadn't blown up lately.

The brown-haired man was Meyer, father of Clemont and Bonnie. He ran an electrical shop in the Lumiose City along with his trusted partner Amphorous. He was one of the few people who had mastered Mega-Evolution along with Professor Sycamore with his Garchomp, the current Kalos Champion, Diantha along with her Gardevoir, Gurkinn, grandfather of Korrina, the Shalour City Gym Leader, along with his Lucario and Korrina herself who had a mega-evolving Lucario as well.

Meyer had a mega-evolving Blaziken, who he hadn't introduced to his kids. He saved Lumiose City from thieves and criminals by using his alias, Blaziken Mask along with his Blaziken, who was usually mega-evolved. He didn't want his kids to know about him being the Blaziken Mask, although they had almost found it out while helping Professor Sycamore get his kidnapped Garchomp back from the stupid Team Rocket. The kids hadn't found out the truth but the professor had and they struck a deal so that now he was helping the professor with his research on mega-evolution. He was watching the league while working on the side.

Watching Ash win on the league was exciting to say the least. He had wanted to repair the heater while watching the league but the league was too exciting to miss anything, especially Ash's battles. He was happy to see Ash win; it just showed how far he had come. He was glad to see them enjoying the victory. Seeing Serena hug Ash had surprised him but he dismissed it, thinking they might have started dating on their journey. He decided to call them and congratulate Ash; he couldn't just leave his shop open in the care of his pokémon all the time.

 ** _Pokémon Centre, Anistar City, Kalos_**

"Nurse Joy, can you help me? Charizard hasn't been feeling well lately. Something seems to be bothering him." A husky voice was heard. A tall trainer with a blue scarf around his neck came running in the Pokémon centre. With him was a girl around eleven years old and a Chespin. The trainer had a pokéball in his hand. He looked tired as though he had been running a marathon. The girl with him was already sitting down panting hard. The boy's hair was quite messy.

Nurse Joy turned around to see a pokéball shoved in her face. The boy, who held the pokéball, had a worried and concerned look on his face. "Please help me, Nurse Joy. I don't get what has been bothering Charizard," the boy almost pleaded.

"Now, now, don't worry," the nurse tried to calm down the boy, "Your Charizard is in capable hands. You are lucky for we have the best Pokémon Doctor in Kanto, here. I will make sure your Charizard will be looked after." She smiled, took the pokéball and went inside.

"Don't worry, Alain. Charizard will be fine. You know he had been through worse." The girl said, having regained her breath. She cared about the boy quite a lot, because he was just like a big brother to her. Alain didn't reply, though he nodded, indicating he had heard her. He was trying to calm himself down; he knew worrying wouldn't help his injured Pokémon heal.

Soon, they heard a deep voice calling them. "Alain, your Charizard is all fine." They turned to see a tanned man beckoning them over. He had spiky hair and he was wearing a white coat. He had the pokéball in his hand. "Your Charizard is completely fine now."

"Thank Goodness." Alain finally relaxed. He had been worried quite a lot, running all the way to the Pokémon Centre from the Anistar sun dial. The said boy was an Assistant of Professor Sycamore, gathering all the information he could on Mega Evolution to help the Professor. He hoped to carry on the professor's research on mega evolution.

He called Charizard out of his pokéball only to see the tip of his left wing and left hand wrapped in bandages. He turned towards the doctor for an explanation but was interrupted from a growl from his Charizard. He saw that both Charizard and the doctor wore serious expressions, watching whatever battle that was airing on the TV. He turned to the other side only to see his fellow companion watching the battle as well. He was surprised and turned to see what battle was being aired. He was astounded to see a Charizard standing on top of a heavily injured Blastoise. The Charizard was very familiar and its trainer was… Ash.

There was complete silence in the centre as everyone, watching the battle, soaked in the results. The silence was suddenly shattered as everyone cheered for the winner. Alain and his Charizard just smiled while the girl and the Chespin started shouting and cheering for Ash at the top of their voices, making Alain go deaf or so he thought.

Alain turned towards the doctor, who had a knowing smile on his face. He thought it to be weird but decided to think about it later. He supposed that the doctor must have known that Ash would win the league. Not that he himself didn't believe it; he knew Ash had it in him what was needed to win.

"So, what was wrong with Charizard, Doctor…?" Alain snapped the doctor out of his thoughts as the doctor turned to face him. He was still concerned about what was wrong with his partner.

"Brock," The doctor said, "Just call me Brock. And as far as your Charizard is concerned, he had some internal injuries in its wing and hand. But you don't need to worry; they will heal in a short time. Just give him these medicines every other day and he should be good as new in a week." Brock handed him some tablets. Alain took the tablets and turned towards his Charizard, who looked somewhat sheepish.

"Why didn't you tell me? Do you know how worried I was for you?" Alain almost yelled in anger before calming down and hugging Charizard hard. Charizard hugged his trainer back. Brock noticed their strong bond and couldn't help but think about how Alain was like Ash when it came to take care of their pokémon.

"I suppose Charizard didn't want to worry you about his injuries. So he must have decided not to say anything about them." Brock offered an explanation. Alain turned towards Charizard who nodded slightly, still shamefaced about his stupidity.

"I guess I will forgive you." Alain told Charizard, "But just don't anything stupid like that again, okay?" He then turned towards the doctor, "Thanks, Brock for your help." Brock just nodded and smiled.

Alain felt a tug on his arm. He turned towards his companion and asked, "What is it, Mairin?"

"Did you just see what an awesome win Ash got?" Ever since meeting Ash, she had wanted to be a trainer like him – thinking strategies on the go and giving her best in it. She almost always looked up to Ash as a little sister would look up to her big brother. Ash treated her as a little sister just like Bonnie. While Alain looked amused, Brock looked surprised; he hadn't known these people would know Ash personally. Then again, it was Ash, so he was bound to have many, many friends.

"Yes, Mairin. I saw. Now don't hinder Brock. He is a busy doctor and you shouldn't disturb him like that." Alain pacified her in a brotherly tone. He had started using the 'brotherly' tone lately because even though he didn't show it, he really cared quite a lot about the girl and thought of her as his sister. Brock silently chuckled at the exchange.

"I wish we could go to Kanto to congratulate him." Mairin continued, not hearing Alain apparently. While Alain tried to calm Mairin down, her words sent Brock on a nostalgic trip.

Brock had first met Ash when he had come to challenge Pewter Gym in Pewter City. Brock had been the Pewter City Gym Leader when his parents had left him to care for himself and his many brothers and sisters. He had always wanted to be a Pokémon Breeder then but couldn't leave his siblings alone.

Ash had challenged him twice. He had lost against him, at first and he would have won during his second try at the battle had it not been his siblings. They had stopped Ash from winning the battle and Ash had admitted to their wish and had forfeited the battle. His love for everyone had really touched Brock and he had gifted him the Pewter Gym Badge.

Meeting Ash had changed his life for the better. His parents had come back and his father had decided to take charge of the Gym so that he, Brock, could travel the world with Ash. Brock knowing that his siblings were in able hands left home to travel and become the best Pokémon Breeder.

He had met many friends _and girls too_ , Brock thought, feeling warm like he did whenever he saw a beautiful girl. His and Ash's first travelling companion, Misty, had never let him flirt with any girl in peace before going near him and pulling him away with his ear. He inadvertently brought a hand to his ear, slightly rubbing it, still feeling the pain from all those years.

He remembered the large appetite of Ash, always eating food as though that was the only thing that mattered in the world. He never thought he would come across any one with such a large appetite as Ash; but he was wrong for he did meet another person like that – May.

May's stomach, he thought, was just a bottomless pit because no matter what the time was, she was always hungry. You could name any place on this planet which served food, you could be sure May knew of this place. It was best not to let anything happen to May's food or she might go on a rampage to destroy the cause of wastage of her food. With her was another person, her brother – Max.

Until Max had met Misty, he could easily flirt with any girl without being pulled away. When Misty returned to meet them on their journey, he couldn't do so anymore because Max started pulling him away from girls, taking up Misty's role. He wouldn't always pull his ear because he was too short to reach up to them; so instead, he would pull his shirt and drag him away.

Then there was Dawn. The blue-haired coordinator was over-confident quite a lot of times and usually used to over-estimate herself, when it came to pokémon – many-a-times to show that she was better than Ash. She had already set herself a goal like Ash and himself to become the best coordinator in Sinnoh.

Sinnoh had been a great region because he had caught himself some great pokémon to take care. It was also the region where he had changed his originally-set goal of becoming the best Pokémon Breeder to becoming the best Pokémon Doctor, after taking care of several severely-poisoned baby pokémon. And once again, luck hadn't been in his favor when it came to his love life, because he soon caught a Croagunk there, who took up the job of pulling him away from girls.

He couldn't think of anything much because he had been staring at the TV and what he saw had left him flabbergasted. Even though it looked accidental, he was amazed to see a girl hugging Ash. Ash! Ash out of all people! He started feeling something he hadn't thought he would ever feel against Ash any day – jealousy. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and was mature enough to know that being jealous was not going to help him at all.

He looked towards the TV again to see Ash being pushed down again by a lemon-haired girl. The honey-blonde girl, who he thought had hugged Ash, was looking towards the ground red-faced. He assumed she liked Ash but hadn't told him yet. Even though he felt sad about not having a girlfriend yet, he decided to go to Pallet Town, to congratulate both, Ash and the girl. Ash – for winning the league – and the girl – for cracking the dense shell Ash had wrapped himself into. He abruptly turned towards the door and headed out.

Meanwhile, Alain had calmed down Mairin by saying they would call Ash to congratulate him and headed to the Anistar Sundial to continue his research on mega evolution. As soon as they reached the sundial, Alain saw someone in a white lab coat heading towards them as well. He had thought there would be no one to disturb him on his research but it seemed he was wrong.

The brown spiky-haired researcher came running towards them and stopped before them, panting hard. Both, Alain and Mairin, waited for him to regain his breath. The boy, who looked around seventeen-years old, finally regained his breath, turned to Alain and spoke.

"Are you Alain?"

"Yes. How can I help you?" There was a slight doubtful tone to his voice. He didn't trust this stranger who had come up at the strangest time possible, for it was almost midnight. Although he didn't know it, he had put a protective hand in front of Mairin.

"Finally," he saw the stranger sigh before continuing, "I am Gary Oak, a pokémon researcher."

Both Alain and Mairin were shocked to hear that this guy might have some kind of relation with the great Professor Oak. Although Alain hid his shock well, Mairin didn't bother to hide her shock.

"Are you, by any chance, related to Professor Oak?" Alain asked Gary.

"Of course, he is my grandfather," came the reply, shocking the listeners even more.

"Oh, I have heard about him so much. I am a big fan of his. I have always wanted to meet him. I have so many questions to ask him about pokémon. Can I please meet him? Please, please, please…" Mairin was making a puppy-dog face. Alain looked amused while Gary sweat-dropped.

"Uh, sure." Gary agreed, not being able to resist the face she was making. He heard her telling her Chespin about meeting the great Professor Oak. He just shook his head and then turned towards Alain and said, "Professor Sycamore told me something about evolution of a pokémon after the final stage of evolution. He told me you were helping him in his research by gathering information about it and asked me to help you while learning about it."

Alain just nodded, turned and started walking towards the sundial with Mairin and Chespie – as she called her Chespin – following him. Gary, taking his cue, started following him as well. He remembered that today had been the Kalos league finals. He had seen Ashy-boy looking and battling as though he wanted to ruin each of his opponents. He had not been able to see much of the league because of his research work and he decided to ask Alain about it.

"So have you seen the Kalos league finals? I wasn't able to because of my research. Do you know who won?" Gary asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I did." Alain replied.

"Our friend, Ash Ketchum won the league. You should have seen the battle." Mairin said.

Hearing the extremely familiar name made Gary stop in his tracks. He was so stunned to hear the results that for a moment he thought he must have misheard, for he wasn't expecting this.

"You guys aren't joking, are you?" Gary asked doubtfully.

Seeing Gary stop, Alain and Mairin had stopped as well. They looked at him incredulously.

"Do you really think we are joking?" Mairin asked.

Gary searched for something that might tell him that she was joking, but he couldn't. All he could see was that they were telling him the truth.

"Not really. I just couldn't believe Ashy-boy finally won." He finally managed to say.

He abruptly turned around and started running towards the Pokémon centre while the remaining two looked at him, perplexed at his sudden departure.

"Where are you heading to Mr. Oak?" Mairin yelled at the top of her voice, running after the fleeing figure of Gary. Alain, seeing that he hadn't any other choice, sighed and started following them. He caught up with Mairin in time to hear the answer to her question.

"I am going to get a ticket to Kanto so that I could meet Ash," Gary answered back. _I have a feeling he will want to return here to personally train all his pokémon and choose the strongest ones to head back and challenge the Elite Four of Kalos. I hope Misty would be there as well._ He almost stumbled due to this sudden thought but managed to balance and kept on running. He went slightly red. _Whoa! How the heck did I think like that? And from when? It isn't that I like her, is it?_

By this time, Gary had reached the Pokémon Centre. Instantly forgetting his confusion, he raced up the stairs to the second floor where he had booked his room. He didn't notice a familiar friend staring at him nor did he notice the look of shock on his face. He was just too focused on getting his things from the room and heading towards the airport to get the ticket.

Meanwhile, hearing his answer, Mairin started running even faster. Alain, who had been running with her, was tired out already and didn't know how the young girl had so much energy. He put a final effort and caught up with her again.

"Why are you running so fast?" He asked panting and feeling strained.

"Didn't you hear that? Mr. Oak said he was going to get the ticket to Kanto. I want to go there as well so of course I am trying to catch up to him. I want to ask him if he wouldn't mind us coming." Mairin said that all in one breath. Knowing that he wasn't going to be able to continue his research any time soon, Alain decided to go along with her.

The two teenagers soon reached the Pokémon Centre and were about to enter through the doors rushing like a locomotive at full speed. The doors opened as soon as Mairin reached them and she couldn't stop herself in time. She bumped full force into the person who was standing on the other side of the door and fell down. Alain who had been lagging behind managed to stop himself and supported himself on his knees, quite tired due to his recent run.

Hearing a groan followed by another, Alain turned to see Mairin rubbing her head and Gary bending and clutching his stomach. Having finally regained his breathing, he first asked Mairin if she was all right. Mairin simply nodded before looking up towards Gary. Her confused expression changed to one of embarrassment as she got up and asked, "Are you okay, Mr. Oak? I am really, truly sorry. I should have been looking where I was running…"

Interrupting her, Alain asked, "Are you okay, Gary? I apologize for my friend's idiocy."

"Don't worry about me. Just got the wind knocked out of my stomach. I will be fine," Gary finally said. Turning towards Mairin, he continued, "One thing." Mairin closed her eyes expecting a scolding. "Please don't call me Mr. Oak. I don't feel comfortable about it."

"Sure, Mr… I mean, Gary." Mairin smiled and Gary smiled back, while Alain continued to watch on indifferently.

"Well, I didn't expect to see you here, Gary." A voice said from behind Gary. The voice was newly-familiar to Alain and Mairin; they knew it belonged to their new acquaintance but to Gary, it was very, very familiar. He turned around, amazed to see his real old and close friend standing behind him smiling.

"Brock, what are you doing here? Hadn't you gone to learn and become the best Pokémon Breeder? And what's up with that white coat?" Gary had just noticed his coat, so it seemed that Brock was a doctor, not a breeder.

Brock shook his head and explained, "I was going to be a Pokémon Breeder, but towards the end of my Sinnoh journey, I changed my goal to be the best Pokémon Doctor." He went on and explained what had happened to all the baby pokémon on his return trip on that fateful day.

"I see," Gary said. "And it seems you have been quite successful. But I didn't notice you when I first came here to book my room." Alain and Mairin were watching the exchange between the two old friends with interest.

"I had gone to get a ticket to Kanto. You must have heard about Ash's win." Brock replied.

"Wait, you know Ash?" Mairin almost yelled out of sheer shock. Alain was just as shocked.

"Of course I do. Had you thought you were the only ones who knew Ash personally?" Brock shot back.

"Huh? No. I just didn't know he knew so many people." Mairin said sheepishly.

"Hey, that guy keeps on travelling. Of course, he would have many friends." Gary pointed out. Mairin just nodded. Alain hadn't said anything so far. He was silently wishing Mairin would have forgotten her real reason to come here.

"So why were you running around like crazy?" Gary asked.

 _Damn it, Gary! You had to ask her that._ Alain thought, glaring at Gary who didn't notice.

"Oh, yeah! How could I have forgotten? I just wanted to ask if you wouldn't awfully mind us coming with you to Kanto. I want to congratulate him myself." Mairin replied. Alain was wishing for Gary to say no.

"Sure, why not? Come along. I want to get the earliest possible flight." Gary turned towards the direction of airport.

 _There goes my chance to finally get back to my research. Why did all of this and that stupid Team Flare decide to come and interrupt it in the first place?_ Alain sighed.

"Wait a minute, Gary!" Brock called. "I have already got the ticket and I have checked the flight schedules. The earliest flight is at tomorrow noon – or should I say today?"

He looked at the clock to see it was already 1:00 in the morning. "Why don't you come back here after booking the tickets? I believe we have got quite a lot of things to tell each other."

Gary just waved his hand and started walking leisurely, knowing that his flight would be around noon. Alain and Mairin followed him, while Brock waved back and then headed into the Pokémon Centre.

 ** _Vaniville Town, Kalos_**

Grace, Serena's mother, was watching the Kalos League. She had met Ash when they were heading towards Coumarine City. She had been on her way to the Rhyhorn race track near the city to teach the kids there the basics of Rhyhorn Racing. She had sized Ash up perfectly and he was proving her guesses correct. She had thought Ash to be reckless and sometimes stupid and idiotic yet to be kind and gentle with pokémon and people alike.

She also remembered the first time she had met Ash and his mother, Delia, during that Professor Oak's fateful summer camp in Kanto. Even though everyone thought of his help as kindness, Serena thought – and cherished – it differently for the remaining time at the camp. It was quite obvious that she might have had a crush on him then because she wouldn't stop talking about him at all. It also explained her sadness at leaving the camp. She hadn't wanted to go the camp at first and now she didn't want to leave. This had terribly confused Grace at first but it soon cleared up after their moving to Kalos.

She had also seen the look of recognition and surprise when, after many years, they had seen Ash, but on TV. She remembered how Serena acted around Ash – she was quite sassy and rebellious with her but around Ash, she would get all nice and helpful and sometimes, she noticed, even blush. This just confirmed to Grace that Serena still had a crush on him.

She hadn't yet told her daughter about her knowledge but she decided to now, after seeing her 'hug' Ash. She decided to call Delia, Ash's mother.

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 **And that's the first chapter! Do review the chapter guys; it would be quite helpful to me.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome again, guys! So, I had said that the updates would be slow, but since I had already finished this chapter, I decided to upload it.**

 **I realized that my last chapter was quite repetitive. I actually knew about that but I just forgot to mention it :P. So, I apologize for that.**

 **Also, even if this story is about amourshipping, romance is NOT my first priority. I am going to focus more on the friendship of the whole group. And since I am on this topic, here are the pairings that I have decided on:**

 **Ash x Serena**

 **Gary x Misty**

 **Max x Bonnie**

 **The rest - I am not sure. I am thinking of Rocketshipping and Clemont x May but I would like to hear your opinions on them. I am going to keep Iris, Brock, Cilan, Alain and Mairin alone. I don't feel like I could make satisfying relationships with any of them.**

 **The next update will probably be by the end of first week of October. The next will be in the first week of November. The time in-between - there are my internals and I haven't studied at all for them, so I will be busy. And now, let's start with the next chapter!**

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CHAPTER 2

"So what are you going to do now, Ash Ketchum? You have just won the Kalos league. Are you going to challenge the Elite Four? When? Now, or after some time? Please tell us, Ash Ketchum. The whole Kalos wants to know."

Ash, still dazed, had walked out of the battle ground, only to be blinded by several flashes of lights. He felt a reporter shove his microphone into his face, even before his eyes had got adjusted to the light.

"Well, I don't know. Uh, maybe, I will head back to my home and train my other pokémon before challenging the Elite Four…" He was interrupted by another reporter before he could finish his statement.

"What kind of pokémon do you have? Are they grass-types? Water-types? Electric-types? Can you tell us how many pokémon do you have?" Another reporter interjected.

Before Ash could figure out what was happening, he found himself in a corridor of the stadium, heading towards the exit, led by Diantha. He looked around to see his friends, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie running towards him. They reached him just as he reached the exit.

"Thanks, Diantha, for helping me out of the jam." Ash thanked her.

"Hello, Diantha. Nice to see you again." The rest of the group chorused.

"Nice to see you too." Diantha smiled at them before turning towards Ash. "I realized you weren't used to all that attention, so I decided to help you out." She motioned towards the direction from where they had come. Ash thanked her again. She dismissed it with a wave of her hand.

"I heard you answer the first question that that reporter asked you. Are you going to wait and train yourself before challenging the Elite Four?" Diantha asked him curiously. Hearing her question, the group realized what she wanted to know and turned towards Ash anxiously. This journey had been amazing for each of them, notably for Serena, who had started her journey for the sole purpose of meeting Ash. Each of them went on a nostalgic trip of their own, while Ash contemplated his answer.

"I think I will," Ash finally decided, saddening the rest of the group. "I can't just recklessly challenge the Kalos Elite Four. Besides using only the Kalos pokémon would be foolish, especially when I have more experienced pokémon at my home. I will train harder until I think I am strong enough to challenge the Elite Four – and you." He said looking at her and sounding quite mature for once. He had that familiar spark in his eyes, again, at the prospect of battling Diantha. "You haven't forgotten our promise, have you?"

Diantha couldn't help but chuckle at his child-like enthusiasm. "I haven't and I will be waiting for you to challenge me. Until then, good luck with your training." She smiled. Ash smiled back. The rest of the group smiled as well, infected with the two people's infectious smiles. "I will book your tickets and tell you when the flight is. Why don't you rest at the Pokémon Centre, until then?" She turned and started walking away.

"Thanks, Diantha." Ash called to her. "See you soon."

"Let's go." Ash turned to see his companions beckoning him over. He ran towards them.

"Sure, let's go." He said, turning to get a final glimpse of the place where he had got his first win. He turned and they all started walking towards the Pokémon Centre. The group was quite sad just by the thought of Ash leaving – Serena more so than others – but they decided to be happy for Ash's sake. Their being sad wasn't going to help them at all. It would only make Ash sad, even after his win at the league.

"So Ash, how many pokémon do you have?" Bonnie asked, wanting to distract her mind from the thought of Ash leaving. Serena and Clemont, recalling Ash mentioning this to Diantha, turned towards him curiously.

"Now, let's see." Ash closed his eyes as if trying to remember all of his pokémon. He seemed in deep thought so the rest of them assumed he had many pokémon. _He must have around 35 or so pokémon, maximum._ Clemont thought, trying to decide on a number that a trainer would have.

"If you don't count the pokémon that I have released so far on my journeys," Ash finally said, gaining the attention of his fellow travelers, "I have around 68 pokémon now."

"WHAT?!" The group yelled out of sheer shock. Ash has 68 pokémon! _This isn't possible, is it?_ Clemont thought. _I could have misheard. It is possible, isn't it? There is no way a trainer could have that many pokémon unless he is a champion or at least one of the Elite Four._

"Yes, that's right. I do have 68 pokémon right now at my home." Ash said again.

Having the rest of his possibilities shot down, Clemont turned towards him and asked skeptically, "You have 68 pokémon?! Really? You are joking, right?" Bonnie and Serena looked just as shocked.

 _Just how much has this guy travelled?_ Serena thought, turning towards her crush. _Catching 68 pokémon is, by no means, a novice's job._

"Why should I be joking?" Ash asked incredulously. "I do have 68 pokémon at my home, 30 of them being Tauros."

"WHAT?! You have 30 Tauros!" Clemont yelled again, while the rest looked at him curiously. "Catching Tauros is one of the most difficult jobs and you have caught 30!"

Serena took out her pokédex to check this pokémon. _Tauros, a Wild Bull Pokémon. When whipping itself with its three tails, its Tackle is a powerful destructive force._

"Sounds dangerous," Bonnie said, shivering at the sight of the dangerous-looking pokémon. Serena thought so too.

"I will tell you how I caught all of them." Ash said, getting interested stares from the rest of the group. He started telling them of his unfortunate safari and how each time he tried to catch a pokémon, a Tauros would come rampaging and get in the way of his thrown pokéball, getting caught instead. Bonnie was laughing quite hard by the time he finished and they reached the Pokémon Centre.

They were just about to sit in the lounge when they heard Nurse Joy calling Ash's name. Ash went to the counter to see what the nurse wanted.

"I am Ash Ketchum." Ash told her. She looked back at him from her work and smiled. She got up, went in a back room and came out with a big trophy in her hand.

"Sorry for the way of awarding this trophy. But since, Malva was found out to be a part of Team Flare, the elites have decided to skip the award ceremony this time for security reasons. I hope you don't mind." She apologized.

"Of course I don't mind at all." Ash said, unable to hide his relief. _At least, I don't have to answer any reporter's questions now._

"And here is the ticket to Kanto, Diantha asked me to give you." She said, gaining his attention and handing him the ticket. He took it, feeling sad at the end of his journey. He always felt sad at the end of his journey, but this particular journey was amazing. He had never felt so close with any of his previous travelling companions. His previous companions were close – no doubt about it – but his current friends weren't just friends; they felt like a close-knit family.

Clemont and Bonnie were like his siblings, although they only fought with each other and not him. Recently though, their number of fights had started decreasing. Being on this journey for so long, they had started trusting each other more than they ever had before, accepting each other's faults and helping each other to move on and continue, especially since what had happened with Team Flare.

The Flare Boss Lysandre had wanted to end this world and start a whole new life of what he thought as 'beautiful and better' world. To achieve his goal, he had made some kind of ultimate weapon that would have been the cause of destruction. Alain had helped him, not knowing his real purpose of researching mega evolution. He had realized his mistake and had helped Ash in taking down Team Flare. They, together with their companions, had taken down Team Flare, leading to the arrest of the boss and the admins.

The remaining part of his family was – Serena. Ash had asked her if she had wanted to join them on their journey, quite nervously. He had been happy when she had accepted and they had been travelling together ever since. At first, she was just a novice and he, eager to help as always, had started giving her tips about pokémon training and the needed inspiration to set a goal. She soon set a goal and looked up to him, taking his words and tips seriously.

He knew he did feel differently about her, closer than a friend, but just couldn't find the right word to describe his relationship with her. Being oblivious to romance and love didn't help for he wouldn't even know if he had been falling in love with her!

He wasn't completely oblivious about it though, he had the general idea about couples and what they did. He had been quite embarrassed about an unfortunate incident when a couple had mistaken about him and May being a thing. Sure, May was nice and all but he didn't feel about her in that way.

But Serena – she was different in some way; he couldn't point out the reason. Just as much as she had looked up to him – and still did – he, too, had started looking at her for any kind of inspiration needed in a battle – be it a gym battle or a league battle. It was like she was the reason for his inspiration and his win in the league – like she deserved the trophy, instead of him.

"ASH!" He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by a sudden high-pitched voice yelling in his ear. He winced and turned to see Bonnie, looking at him with mock anger. Pikachu was sitting on her head, looking at him weirdly. "Just how long do you think you are going to spend the time, staring at your trophy?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just thinking." He replied, giving her a bright smile. He felt sad to have to leave them but couldn't let that spoil the remaining time with them.

"About what?" They turned to see Serena looking at him with concern. She had a curious tone to her voice as well. Clemont was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Clemont?" Bonnie asked, voicing Ash's thought as well.

"He has gone to cook food." Serena replied back, before turning towards Ash and giving him a questioning look.

"Well, I was just…" Ash was about to answer her question when he suddenly smelled a delicious smell.

"Dinner is ready!" Clemont's voice came down the corridor, interrupting the moment, as all of them forgot about what they were talking, instead taking the time to smell the appetizing smell. This announcement was followed by a loud grumbling as Ash rubbed his hand on his stomach. He then looked towards Serena and Bonnie embarrassed and scratched the back of his head. Serena and Bonnie looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Looks like someone is really hungry." Serena teased Ash as he felt even more embarrassed.

"Hey, I can't help it if I am hungry. How am I supposed to train tomorrow if I am hungry?" Ash tried to protest. It only made both of them chuckle at him.

"Whatever, let's just go." Ash grumbled as Pikachu jumped on his shoulder. He put the trophy in the bag and started walking towards the diner. Serena and Bonnie had already walked ahead of him, still giggling at Ash's stomach.

"Ash, Serena, you two better run quickly before I reach the food and eat it all up." Bonnie said and burst into a sprint. Serena followed, not wanting to sleep hungry. She would have waited for Ash, but she knew Ash would catch up with her soon, not wanting to let Bonnie eat his food. She was quite right for Ash was about to run too, before Nurse Joy interrupting him.

 _What's with people continuously interrupting me?_ He thought, slightly mad at being interrupted. "Yes, Nurse Joy, how can I help you?"

"There is something more I will give you when you are about to leave tomorrow. I have been told to give that to you tomorrow at the airport. So you don't mind if I accompany you tomorrow, do you?" The nurse asked.

"Of course not, why should I mind?" Ash said. He was curious as he started running towards the diner. _I wonder what else has remained to be given to me. I have got the privilege to challenge the Elite Four whenever I want to, I have got the trophy and I have also got the ticket to Kanto. There doesn't seem to be anything I am missing out on._

Nurse Joy looked at his retreating figure and thought, _Diantha was right. He really has child-like eagerness. I hope she gives me the remaining tickets in time._

Ash reached the diner in time to eat the food. Clemont had made sure to keep his food separately from the rest of the group. He was thankful for that. Serena was curious as to why Ash was late. He had never been late to dinner any time. She was about to ask him when she saw just how greedily Ash was eating – or devouring – the food. She decided to ask him later, knowing she wouldn't have to wait long.

Sure enough, in just a few minutes, they heard a large, satisfied sigh. They all saw Ash patting his full stomach; his action mimicked by his pokémon, while Clemont had a shocked look on his face.

"How could you eat that much food in just a few minutes? That's almost impossible." Clemont had seen Ash devour food many times but the quantity of the food Ash ate still astonished him.

"What can I say, Clemont? Anything for mouth-watering food like you make." Ash complimented him, somewhat sleepily. Clemont scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. Even though, quite a lot of people had complimented him, Clemont still felt uncomfortable about it.

Serena, meanwhile, decided to ask Ash. "Why were you late Ash? You never are late when it comes to food."

Ash stiffened. He didn't want to depress the jolly mood right now. He knew it was inevitable to separate, but he didn't want it to dampen the mood, just yet. When he didn't answer, not only Serena, but Clemont, Bonnie and their pokémon too stared at him questioningly.

Pikachu knew what was going on his mind though. He knew the sadness that came up with the separation. He didn't want to separate with the group either, not with Serena's Eevee at least.

Pikachu wasn't as dense as Ash when it came to love. He knew it if someone was in love. He hadn't expected himself to have a crush on someone, especially when there was Dawn's Buneary ready to crush him in a hug. That Buneary had had a crush on him right from the time she was captured. He didn't feel the same way but he was much too nice – and afraid of her reaction – to say it to her face. And he wasn't the only one.

There was his trainer's Greninja and his crush's trainer's Braixen. He knew about Braixen's slight crush on Greninja – when he was a Frogadier. It was only a slight crush, so there was quite a possibility that she might have gotten over it, but Pikachu doubted it. He thought she still has the feelings for him that will probably show when she evolves.

This same kind of thing had happened with Team Rocket's Jessie's Gourgeist, right before it evolved from a Pumpkaboo, only that it was reversed. Another Pumpkaboo developed a crush on her Pumpkaboo before it evolved. Soon enough, Jessie's Pumpkaboo evolved to save her trainer from trouble, while simultaneously crushing the other Pumpkaboo's crush.

Then there was Bunnelby who was like a brother to the Eevee and Hawlucha and Noivern who were like siblings, fighting with each other yet not shying away from any danger that threatened their surrogate brother. The rest of the pokémon was like a close-knit family for him too.

Fortunately, Ash was saved from the trouble of answering. They suddenly heard someone clapping. They turned around to see Tierno, Trevor and Shauna clapping with wide smiles on their faces. Seeing them, everyone's faces split into wide grins. Tierno came running and hugged Ash hard – too hard for his liking.

"Congratulations, Ash!" Tierno yelled at the top of his voice.

"Ca… ca… can't breathe!" Ash managed to get that out as Tierno released him from the hug. He sat down, breathing hard.

"Congratulations!" Shauna and Trevor said in unison.

"Thanks guys." Ash gave them a wan smile. He was still recovering from the bone-crushing hug Tierno gave him.

Seeing that he was okay, Shauna turned towards Serena, gave her a determined look and said, "I might have lost this time, Serena. But I am not going to back out. Next time, I will be the one getting the honor to compete with Aria for the title of Kalos Queen. It won't be easy for you to defeat me."

She smiled resolutely. Serena returned her smile. "Sure, but you will have to train harder to defeat me, because I am going to train too." They shook their hands firmly, as a way to show their respect to each other. "Good luck, Shauna."

"Same to you, Serena."

"And you better be ready to lose as well, Ash." Both the girls turned to see Tierno wagging his finger in Ash's face. "I may have lost but next time, I will be the winner."

Ash smiled determinedly. "It won't be easy to defeat me, Tierno." They shook hands as well. The guests turned and started walking towards the door. The gang looked surprised.

"Leaving so soon?" Clemont asked. The three turned around.

"Yeah. To train hard. We aren't going to forget our promises so easily." Shauna and Tierno gave Ash and Serena an unwavering look and were not surprised to see it returned.

"Meanwhile, I will be photographing even more pokémon." Trevor said with an equally determined look.

"Well then, good luck to you all." Clemont and Bonnie chorused. The three were about to leave when they were interrupted by an all-too familiar trio.

"Prepare for trouble."

"And make it double."

Ash, utterly fed up of those familiar lines, nodded towards Pikachu, who unleashed a powerful thunderbolt and blasted them off.

"Well, that ended quickly." Trevor said. He recalled how much time they had wasted when he had seen Moltres, the legendary bird pokémon, with them.

"Yeah. I am completely fed up of those guys trying to steal Pikachu," Ash said, his frustration clear in his voice. "They just don't give up."

"I know that they have been trying even before I started travelling with you." Ash turned towards Serena, hearing her curious voice. "But you sound so frustrated. Just how long have they been after you and Pikachu?" She asked, glancing towards Pikachu.

Ash and Pikachu exchanged glances before Ash answered, "Just as soon as I started my journey." All of them looked taken aback.

"And I suppose you had to listen to those lines every time?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah, almost every single time. There must be only few instances when they hadn't said them. It has been almost six years since I first came across them and they haven't given up since then." Ash sighed heavily.

"Must have been quite boring. I wonder how you had put up with them for so long." Shauna said.

"Oh, I hadn't had any need to put up with them for long. Each and every time, Pikachu or sometimes one of my pokémon would attack them and blast them off." Ash chuckled at the thought. He was a caring person and wouldn't have laughed at such things, but this was an exception. The Team Rocket trio was just too intrusive for his liking and the intrusion had always been for the sake of stealing pokémon to 'please' their boss. It pleased him to a certain extent that he was always stopping them on time.

"I see. Well, we must leave." Trevor said as they turned and walked towards the door. The Kalos gang waved at them as they were leaving and they waved back. Bonnie, tired of all the excitement, yawned loudly. Seeing her, most of the pokémon, along with Ash and Serena, yawned as well.

"I think I am going to sleep. I am too tired to think straight right now. Good night, guys." Ash returned all his pokémon to their pokéballs as did Serena and Clemont. Clemont took hold of Bonnie's hand and started walking towards the Centre followed by Ash and Serena, all of them yawning greatly.

The next day, early in the morning, all of them woke up ready to head to their next destination. The group was in the lounge deciding their next route.

"Let's see," Serena said, poring over the map in her guide. "We have travelled almost all of Kalos region. So, let's head to Lumiose City where we can go our separate paths." The mood dampened slightly as she said that, none of them wanting the journey to end so soon. Bonnie started thinking of a way that might help them spend the last few days together to be kept in their memories as a souvenir.

"How about," she started, "we first go to Vaniville Town to Serena's place to spend a day there before we continue to Lumiose City?"

Serena followed the route Bonnie suggested as her eyes lit up. "That's great, Bonnie. We will pass through Vaniville Town while heading to Lumiose City. We could spend some time at my place. I really want to see Mom again, after such a long time."

"Then that's settled. We will go to Vaniville Town first and then to Lumiose City. I hope your mother wouldn't mind, Serena." Clemont said, looking at everyone.

"No, she wouldn't mind. I think I will go call her and tell her that we will be there soon." Serena replied as she got up and headed towards the phone. She soon returned, although her face looked slightly red. Ash and Clemont didn't notice but Bonnie did and decided to ask her later.

"It's settled. Mom said she would be waiting for us." She announced.

"Alright then. Let's go." Ash said as he started running.

"We are coming." Bonnie yelled as she and Serena dashed after him together, leaving Clemont behind.

"Wait for me!" Clemont shouted at them as he tried to catch up with them, panting hard already. _Why do we have to run all the time?_ He thought to himself, grumbling.

Soon, they started walking as they reached the forest. Clemont, having finally caught up with them, was walking ahead with Ash and Pikachu. Serena and Bonnie were walking behind them.

Bonnie turned towards Serena and decided to ask her. "Hey Serena," she said, attracting the older girl's attention. "Why were you looking so flushed when you came back after talking to your Mom?"

Serena went red again and replied slightly stuttering, "Of course, I wasn't flushed. What are you talking about, Bonnie?" She tried to dodge the question.

Bonnie, knowing that Serena might try dodging her question, gave her a devious smirk. Serena gulped, seeing her smirk. Travelling with her for so long, Serena knew Bonnie was planning something whenever she smirked like that.

"Do you think I don't know about your crush on Ash?" Bonnie asked directly, not wanting to beat around the bush.

Serena went scarlet. _So Bonnie knows about my crush like Miette. I wonder how long she had known that._

"Just how long have you known that?" Serena managed to ask her, even thought she was embarrassed.

"Since your first win at the showcase at Dendemille Town. I noticed how you behaved around Ash and how Miette kept on embarrassing you. I may be a young girl but I do know about romance. I knew at once that you had a crush on him." Both of them had stopped to talk. Ash and Clemont, not noticing, kept on walking and talking about various battle strategies.

 _Why does this girl know so much about romance? Does she really have to act like a little sister to me? I hope she doesn't do something embarrassing to me._ Serena thought mortified.

She turned towards Bonnie and admitted, "I have had a crush on Ash since I first met him in the summer camp. Please don't tell him though. It would be better if I did it myself." She blushed even more if that was possible.

"Alright then." Bonnie agreed with her, much to her relief. "But," she continued, as Serena listened suspiciously, "I might try something indirectly." Ash and Clemont finally noticing them stop, stopped as well and saw the two whispering to each other.

"Like what?" Serena asked guardedly.

"For example, when you and Ash are talking, I might start running towards you and stumble into you so that you end up on top of Ash… in a really awkward position." Bonnie finished, giving her a devilish smirk. Serena flushed red at that thought. Before she could scold Bonnie, they were interrupted by Ash hollering.

"What are you two whispering to each other?" Ash shouted at them. Serena, quite embarrassed as it was, started flailing her hands frantically, trying to think of an excuse. Bonnie saved her from further embarrassment.

"I was just asking Serena to let me brush her pokémon for her for the rest of the days." Bonnie said smoothly. Ash bought the excuse and nodded, while Clemont looked at his sister suspiciously as Bonnie gave them an innocent smile. Clemont then turned towards Serena and noticed that she was red.

"Are you okay, Serena? You look all red." Clemont asked.

"Clemont is right, Serena. You do look red. Are you feeling well?" Ash asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm okay. It is just this heat." Serena managed to answer them back. The boys, apparently satisfied with their answers, beckoned them over. Bonnie ran at once towards them and Serena followed, relieved. They caught up with them and all of them started walking together.

Serena glared at Bonnie fiercely. _That girl will be the death of me. I better keep an eye on her or I might end up in trouble._ Bonnie kept on walking, seemingly not noticing Serena glaring at her.

Meanwhile, the Team Rocket trio that Pikachu had blasted off had landed in the forest. They were knocked out by the high-voltage thunderbolt that Pikachu had shot at them. Although they were used to the thunderbolts, this one felt way stronger than the ones they had been shot at with.

Soon enough, Meowth regained his consciousness and got up, trying to get his bearings. _Wow, that thunderbolt was way stronger than I had thought. That Pikachu is getting stronger as the days pass. We need to catch him. Boss will be pleased and reward us with money and I will show that Persian what I am made of._

Meowth was referring to the boss's Persian, which was the evolved form of his species. The Persian was an experienced battler but rarely showed his extraordinary powers, usually sitting and sleeping his time on his trainer's lap. Persian and Meowth had a fierce rivalry of who was better than the other and it had ended up in Persian getting boss's love instead of Meowth. Meowth had decided since then to show that he was made of good stuff as well and he, along with his partners, Jessie and James, had started to capture any kind of strong pokémon they came across.

 _Speaking of Jessie and James, where are they?_ Meowth thought. He started searching for them. _Being a cat helps. At least I can see in the dark and don't have to worry about flashlights._

He soon heard a groan coming from a branch of a tree. He looked up to see both his partners hanging from the tip of the branch. The branch had dangerously bent and it looked like it was about to break. Jessie had just regained consciousness and was starting to move. James was still out cold.

"Don't move, Jess." Meowth warned, his voice sounding quite loud in the dark and silent forest. Jessie heard him but she hadn't yet got her bearings. She moved and as a result, the branch broke. The pair fell down hard, right on top of Meowth.

Jessie was rubbing her hip. The shock from the fall had jolted her completely awake. She heard Meowth groaning. She looked down to see that she was sitting on top of Meowth. She got up and helped him.

"So what are we going to do, now?" Jessie asked, motioning towards her partner, James, who was still out cold. Before Meowth could reply, they were interrupted by a loud beeping sound coming from James's pocket. They saw the special Holo Caster, made by the Team, ringing. The caller was none other than their boss.

 _I wonder why the boss is ringing so late at night._ Jessie thought, as she took hold of the phone and answered the call. The projected hologram showed the boss stroking his Persian. Meowth growled at the sight. The boss's assistant was standing beside him with a stoic expression on her face. Hearing the growl, the boss looked up and his expression turned sour. Meowth and Jessie didn't say anything letting their boss speak first.

"So, you must be wondering why I called you so late at night." He started. Seeing them nod, he continued, "I called to tell you that we have recruited some new members for the Team." He paused. Jessie and Meowth were thinking the same thing. _What does that have to do with us?_

Seeing their confused expressions, the boss continued, "And your jobs have been terminated."

"WHAT?!" They both yelled out of sheer shock. They have been kicked out of Team Rocket!

"You can't do that boss!" Jessie was trying to keep in her anger but was not being entirely successful. Meowth looked like he was about to drop dead – his face was quite pale.

"Not you, Jessie." Jessie's head shot up at the boss's words. Seeing her astonishment, the boss said, "You are better than those two nuts with whom you work. I think you can do better and I am giving you a chance to keep working for the Team Rocket. Do you want to continue?"

Meowth's face was red with sheer anger and hatred. _We are nuts, aren't we? We will just show you what we are made of when we take Team Rocket down._

Jessie's head was whirling with thoughts. It was just too much to take in. _So, James and Meowth have been kicked out. I still have a chance to keep working. But that means, working without either of them supporting me. Plus we have been together since at least six years. Do I want to shove our friendship and hard-work together down the drain after being together for so long?_

She saw Meowth looking at her hopefully – hope that she stays with them, hope that she rejects the boss's offer, hope that they stay together forever. Pushing all their teamwork down the drain would be a stupid decision. She decided that she would reject boss's offer.

"Well?" The boss's voice interrupted her thoughts. Jessie turned towards him who looked back at her impatiently. His expression looked intimidating, but she had decided not to get scared just because he glared at her. She turned towards him, facing him with a confident look.

"Sorry, Boss. I am going to reject your offer. I would rather stay with my friends than spend time with people I don't even know." Jessie said, a little too fast, but the boss heard it all.

"If that's what you want. Your jobs are officially terminated." He said in a dangerous tone. Jessie, feeling quite confident against him for once, didn't flinch at all to the surprise of the boss. The phone was disconnected.

Jessie sighed in relief and turned towards Meowth who looked quite happy. "Thanks Jess." They both smiled at each other. Hearing a groan, they turned towards James, who was just waking up. He shook his head and then clutched it hard as if in pain. Soon enough, he looked well enough to talk. He turned towards his companions, who looked grim. Seeing their grim expressions, he was surprised.

"So, what happened? You two look so grim." James asked curiously. They turned towards each other before taking it in turns to explain him what had happened while he was out cold. He was thinking hard by the time they finished. _So we have been kicked out. We haven't got anything to do or any job to go to. And the idea to take down Team Rocket seems exciting, but we won't be able to do that alone. So, what should we do? Oh yes, how could we have forgotten?_

"I know!" James finally said, looking at his partners who looked back at him inquiringly. "Do you remember what boss had said the last time we had failed in Unova? That Ketchum was a big thorn in his path." They nodded. They remembered it all too well how angry their boss had been at their failure in Unova. It hadn't been a pleasant sight.

They had failed a few missions due to Ash and delayed their plan by almost a month. Then Ash had somehow managed to bond with Meloetta, a mythical pokémon, and had unknowingly interfered with their plans again. He had also interrupted, albeit with their help, when the Boss had lost his control over the Unova trio of legendary pokémon, although the Boss had later claimed that he was about to control the powers.

"And if he called us nuts and kicked us out after funding our projects to catch Pikachu for so long, then it means that he is seriously thinking to follow through his threat. He must have also come with a dangerous plan to get rid of any obstacle in his latest project to take over the world, Ash and his friends being the biggest obstacles." James continued.

"I still don't see where we are heading with this." Jessie complained impatiently.

"I think I have an idea where we are heading," Meowth said slowly. Both of his companions turned towards him. "I think you are meaning to tell the twerps about this whole plan as a warning to them and help them while we get our revenge on the Team Rocket legally, without having to fear about being put in jail."

"Exactly!" James exclaimed as Jessie's eyes widened. They stopped talking to let the idea seep in their head. After a while, Jessie's voice broke the silence.

"But do you think they will listen to us? I mean, we have lied to them almost every time we have come across them and helped them only for the sake of our lives. And one more thing, we will also have to show the proof that we aren't a part of Team Rocket anymore and that they could be in trouble. Where are we going to find the required proof assuming they decide to listen to us?" Jessie shared her opinion.

"Now that's where James and the geek inventor who has been travelling with the twerps come in." Meowth said excitedly as the plan started forming in his head. "James and that twerp, both are computer experts. They can try and hack into the Rocket database as we help them and warn them about different type of securities that have been kept to make sure no outsider hacks the database."

"Exactly! You got it all straight." James said. "And all the calls are recorded in the Holo Caster, so that will be our proof that we have been kicked out." Jessie nodded at them, finally getting the plan.

"So, now we head to Kanto." Jessie said, getting up and stretching. They had sat down to discuss the plans. Having decided their plans, she was all for following them through right now.

"And just what are we going to do there if the twerps aren't there in the first place?" Meowth asked sarcastically. "Did you forget already that they will be here for some time until their flight a few days later?" Jessie turned towards him and was about to respond just as bitingly, when James stepped in.

"Calm down both of you. There is no need to fight for such trivial reasons. Besides, we still have to get rid of these clothes." All three of them looked down at their Team Rocket uniforms disdainfully. "And we will also buy some new clothes in Viridian City before heading to Pallet Town. All this will take up a few days and until then, Ash will have reached home."

"With that decided, how are we going to reach Kanto? We only have enough money to buy clothes there. Our balloon doesn't look all that well to me." Jessie said. They turned towards their signature Meowth balloon to see a part of his ear torn and the fingers of Meowth's paw burnt due to the thunderbolt. James walked towards it and scrutinized the damages.

"I believe we can mend it." He finally said. "But we need some cloth to patch it up." The three looked at each other, wondering where to get some cloth. Meowth looked at his partners' uniforms and got an idea.

"How about you use those uniform vests to patch up the balloon?" Meowth suggested. The other two stared down at their uniform and then at each other, before nodding. They took off their vests and started to patch up the balloon. Both of them were wearing black t-shirts underneath so they wouldn't feel too cold for the remaining of the night.

After a few hours, they finally got up from their work, satisfied with the results. Meowth, apparently bored just seeing them, had gone to sleep. He could use his paws for a number of different jobs but sewing wasn't one of them. He decided to sleep instead so that he would be able to keep an eye on things while his partners would get their much-needed rest.

"Finally," James said, stretching to his full length. It hadn't been easy to work with only moonlight, but both of them had managed to finish their job. Jessie only yawned widely as her reply, setting off James as well.

Their loud yawns woke Meowth up. He blinked to see the sky just starting to turn blue – a simple sign that told him it was early in the morning. He rubbed his eyes and stretched. He turned to see his companions just having finished their night job.

"So you guys worked for the rest of the night, huh?" Meowth asked, finally fully awake. They simply grunted in reply, too tired to say much. They had spent quite a lot of nights awake but they had never worked so hard at night. So, their job had exhausted them completely.

"It's a good thing that you have paws or you might know how exhausted we are." Jessie replied, tired and irate. James looked like he was about to drop down asleep right at his place. He hadn't had any good rest after he woke up from his unconsciousness. It affected him more than others since he had a rich family background and had lived his childhood in luxury. Unlike James, Jessie hadn't such a background, so she had learnt to be tough earlier in her life.

"No need to sound so angry. Just help me with the air filling in the balloon and you two can go to sleep. I will handle it until you feel good enough to help me." Meowth said guiltily. He had let them work for him and he felt slightly guilty at the fact. So to repay them, he wanted to let them get their well-deserved sleep while he handled the balloon. _It seems like we are already transforming into good persons. I doubt I would have felt so guilty for making them work for me if we had still been a part of Team Rocket. Those guys had really made us hard-hearted. Maybe we still have a chance to change ourselves. If we do, I am going to make sure none of us wastes it._

The trio started filling up the balloon with hot air. Soon enough, it was filled and all three jumped on it. James showed Meowth the direction to Kanto, barely managing to keep awake. Jessie was already out cold, snoring loudly.

"We are to head northeast of here. If nothing happens to detour us from our path, we will reach the Kanto borders by tomorrow evening." James muttered. Meowth barely heard it all, but he nodded, wanting James to rest. As soon as he nodded, James lied down and drifted off in a dreamless sleep. Meowth started guiding the balloon to head to Kanto.

Meanwhile, at the Team Rocket headquarters in Kanto, the night before, the boss had just talked with the old members of the team. His expression showed frank disgust. _I knew those nuts wouldn't take on my offer. A good thing too; I wasn't sure just how long I was going to fund their projects to gift me Ash Ketchum's Pikachu. It has been nothing but a waste of money and time. They didn't even catch the pokémon without blasting off. Hopefully, the new recruits would be able to handle everything better._

"So, Giovanni," the boss turned his head towards his assistant, "you just kicked them out. Do you think we should keep an eye on them? They could get dangerous and may want to take revenge on you."

Giovanni just sneered. "Those guys aren't worth keeping an eye on. Even if they tried to attack us, they wouldn't be able to get far with their useless and weak pokémon. Besides, the new recruits have better pokémon and will handle everything easily. And their pokémon are the ones which are available in every region so they can go anywhere without getting any attention to themselves."

"But what if the trio interferes with our plans?" The assistant persisted. Giovanni's sneer just widened and he motioned her to call on the one of the new recruits. She complied and in a few minutes, a green-haired boy came in and got down on his knee in front of Giovanni. He had green eyes and his hair was spiky. He looked around nineteen years-old and was quite handsome. He was wearing the usual Team Rocket uniform – a white vest with a big red R in the middle over a black shirt and white pants to go with it.

"Yes boss." He said in a surprisingly deep voice.

"Get up." Giovanni ordered. The boy got up and looked him in the eye, not flinching at all. "Do you remember those guys' photos that I had showed you? Two people, a man and a woman, with a Meowth between them." Receiving a nod, he continued, "Keep an eye on them with your partner. Make sure they don't try to interfere with our plans."

He had an evil gleam in his eyes as he continued, "As soon as they intrude, finish them off... alng with whoever is with them."

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 **And that's the second chapter! I have tried not to use the same words over and over again and hope you like this chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! I am back with another chapter of the story. And I can't believe you are liking my story so far. I have already got quite a few favs and follows in only two chapters. I didn't get as many reviews as I had been expecting but of course, I can't force you to review :P.**

 **Thank you everyone who faved, followed and reviewed my story. Shoutout to _guywithglasses_ for giving me some very useful tips.**

 **I am still waiting for your opinions on Rocketshipping and Clemont x May because these two will help me decide the behavior of these characters. Now, let's continue with the story.**

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CHAPTER 3

 ** _Vaniville Town, Kalos_**

"Come on everyone. Faster." Serena's voice showed her excitement at returning home. She had just reached the outskirts of her native town and had turned around to see her companions lagging behind. Ash and Bonnie were about to reach her but Clemont was quite tired out and had fallen behind. The three soon reached her and Clemont panted hard to recover from his fatigue.

"Clemont!" Bonnie started to scold him when Ash interrupted.

"That's fine, Bonnie. We have been running for quite some time, so Clemont was bound to be tired."

Bonnie pouted at her brother. He was just too slow! Serena held back a giggle at her response. "Don't worry, Bonnie. We are almost at my home. And we also have a Rhyhorn on which I used to train before starting my journey. I will let you play with him, okay?"

Her question changed Bonnie's mood instantly. She cheered, happy at the fact that she will be allowed to play with Serena's pokémon. Ash chuckled at her actions. She reminded him of himself when he was her age and couldn't wait to be a pokémon trainer. He could understand her excitement.

"All right! Let's go, Clemont. I want to play with Serena's Rhyhorn. Come on, don't waste any more time." Bonnie went near her still-panting brother and started pulling him towards the town. Ash and Serena merely laughed quietly at her enthusiasm.

"I am coming, Bonnie. No need to pull me." Clemont whined, wanting to lie down and rest. The other two smiled at the siblings' bickering and started following them.

Soon, the four reached Serena's house. Serena opened the gate and ran towards a kennel that could be seen in the front yard. The pokémon in there must have heard her footsteps for a shuffle could be heard distinctly.

"Hello, Rhyhorn. I am back. How have you been?" Serena finally stopped to take a breath. The Rhyhorn came out, gave a grunt and started rubbing against her. She giggled back. Bonnie, apparently not happy with Serena getting all the attention, went near the pokémon and introduced herself.

"Hello there, I am Bonnie." She paused, pointed towards an orange-colored pokémon sitting on her head and continued, "And this is Dedenne."

Clemont and Ash approached them as Bonnie motioned her hands towards her brother, "and that is my brother, Clemont."

"Hello there." Clemont greeted the Rhyhorn.

"Hello there, I am Ash and this is Pikachu." Ash introduced himself and his partner as well. The Rhyhorn nodded in response and turned to Bonnie, apparently interested in making friends with her and Dedenne. Bonnie started laughing as Rhyhorn cuddled her and she cuddled him back. The other three watched her play, smiling at her innocence.

There was a creak as the front door opened. A brown-haired woman came out to see what the noise was all about. The group and Rhyhorn turned to see its trainer looking at them. Serena's face lit up with a big smile as did the woman's face.

"Mom!" Serena shrieked at the top of her voice as she ran and tackled her mother into a hug. Her mother hugged her back ecstatically. The rest three watched the happy reunion of the mother and her daughter. Rhyhorn headed into his kennel to rest, after seeing his trainer's daughter back from her journey.

"Serena! It's so nice to see you again. I had started wondering if you were coming back at all." Her mother hugged her tight for a few moments before letting her go. She smiled at her daughter who smiled back. She then turned towards her daughter's friends and invited them inside. "Come inside all of you! Don't just stand like that. Come on in."

The rest of the day was spent relating their adventures, meeting the other pokémon owned by Serena's mom, Grace, and laughing at Ash's stomach and Bonnie's absurdity. They made sure not to go into too much detail of their and Team Flare's conflict so as not to worry Grace. All of them knew how moms were like – giving them all kinds of instructions to follow like wearing raincoats at the first drop of rain and so on.

That night after dinner, the three guests headed off to their respective rooms – Ash and Clemont in the guest room and Bonnie in Serena's room – to sleep and get rested for the next day. Serena stayed up to help her mother in the kitchen. Grace was astonished at her daughter's insistence to help in the kitchen and let her have her way. She was pleasantly surprised to see her doing everything perfectly, with little to no help from her.

 _I guess it was for the best that I let her go on this trip. She certainly has changed and hasn't been rebellious at all since she's back._ Grace thought, seeing her daughter putting the last of the dishes in their places. _I guess I must talk to her about love now._ She had wanted to talk to her about this, privately and she had got the chance now.

"I am going to sleep, Mom." Grace turned to her daughter, who was yawning widely. Serena had just reached the stairs when she heard her mother calling her.

"Come here for a while, Serena. I want to talk to you." Her mother called her, though she couldn't keep the slightly playful tone out of her voice. Serena raised an eyebrow at her but she came to talk anyway. _After all, how bad could it get?_ She thought, ignorant of the embarrassment that was to follow soon.

"So is Ash your boyfriend?" Her mother asked her directly and teasingly. She got the reaction she had been expecting from her daughter – shock and embarrassment. Serena went crimson at the thought of Ash being her boyfriend, though she was quite certain it wouldn't happen in a million years.

"No mom. It is nothing like that." She started waving her arms frantically, flustered and blushing intensely. She couldn't help but think darkly. _What the heck is wrong with people being blunt with me? I know I am not an idiot who wouldn't understand any hint. And how does mom know about my crush? I wasn't even that obvious, was I?_

"Don't be afraid of it. I saw you hug Ash on TV, right after he won the league." Grace continued, still slightly playful. "And of course, don't worry. I approve of him." It didn't look possible for Serena to go any redder, but she did. She felt her cheeks burning and she really wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. _How could I have forgotten? The whole world must have seen me trip and run into Ash. And if his mom had seen that, I don't know how I am going to face her if Ash ever introduced me to her._

"MOM!" Serena almost shouted. Both Grace and Serena heard smothered giggles and turned towards the door. Bonnie was standing there with a hand on her mouth, trying to stifle her giggles but not being entirely successful.

"Bonnie! You didn't hear it all, did you?" Serena asked tentatively. Her mother seemed surprised to see the young kid up so late. Bonnie, still trying to suppress her laughter, managed to reply.

"Yes, I did. Your face is a sight, right now, Serena. Just look how red you have gone. Oh, I just can't wait to tell Ash about your crush on him." She couldn't hold back anymore and burst out laughing. Grace hid a smile at the kid's audacity.

"Ahhh! Just stop it both of you!" Serena slightly yelled and stomped out of the kitchen, angry. _I don't know how I am going to spend these last few days peacefully with Ash if Mom and Bonnie keep on embarrassing me like that._

Grace and Bonnie watched her stomping her way out. Bonnie managed to stop her laughter. _You know that I am trying to do it for you, Serena, don't you?_ She thought, looking at the door through which Serena had just left. _Why don't you try to win Ash over? He isn't going to wait for you forever. If we come across Miette again, it might become even more difficult for you. You better do it fast. Good Luck, Serena._

Bonnie silently wished luck to her surrogate sister. Grace turned towards her and asked, "What are you doing up so late, Bonnie? Aren't you sleepy?"

Bonnie turned towards her and replied, "I just came down to drink water. I didn't mean to overhear your conversation but I couldn't help it. I am really sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Bonnie." The older woman replied, handing her a glass of water and getting one herself. "I wasn't sure if anyone knew about this. That's why I talked to Serena privately. By the way, how do you know about this?"

Bonnie explained her in a short time. Grace nodded as she finished and asked, "Don't Ash and Clemont know about this?" Bonnie shook her head and told her about their denseness.

"I see." Grace looked thoughtful as Bonnie stood there waiting for her cue to leave. Grace turned towards Bonnie and with a wink, whispered something in her ear. Bonnie's smirk grew wider as she continued listening what Serena's mother had to say. Grace finally finished and smiled at Bonnie, who returned her smile.

"There is still a possibility that Ash may not invite you but I doubt it with the way you told me about his character." Grace said and then pushed Bonnie lightly towards the stairs. "Now, go sleep. You need to be ready for all that."

Bonnie ran up the stairs to her and Serena's room, trying to stifle her giggles. She knew she would have to play the biggest role if Ash and Serena had to be ended up together.

Grace knew she had done right as she looked at Bonnie's retreating figure. By the way Ash talked about her daughter and praised her baking skills and all, she could tell he was warming up to her. All he needed was a good shove for him to realize his feelings – and Bonnie will be the one who will give him that shove.

The next day, everyone woke up early so that they could reach the Lumiose City by night. Ash, Clemont and Bonnie were at the door waving. Serena and Grace waved back although Serena, Ash noticed, looked sad. She must probably be sad for having to leave us so soon, he reasoned with himself. He decided to ask her if she would like to come.

"Hey, Serena!" He called her. She looked at him. _What could he want to tell me?_

"You look sad. Why don't you come with us to Lumiose City? We all can spend time together until I have to leave." He said, unknowingly dampening the mood. None of them showed it though, Grace noticed. She turned to see Serena looking towards her. She nodded, knowing that she wanted to spend time with them before they separate.

Serena gave a low, delighted squeal and hugged her tight. She hugged back and soon Serena was walking with her travelling family with her mother waving at them.

It was a long day but they finally reached the city at sundown. All of them, thoroughly tired, somehow reached the gym. They opened the door and were greeted by a delightful smell. They all forgot their fatigue and ran towards the dining room to be greeted by a wonderful sight.

Food covered each and every inch of the table and Clemont's pokémon were sitting on the floor, eating their food. They must have heard the door open for they pounced at Clemont and Bonnie, hugging them tightly. Hearing the commotion, another door at the back of dining room opened and a brown-haired man, the siblings' father, peeped in.

Seeing his kids rolling on the floor with Clemont's pokémon and their friends standing near them awkwardly, he came in and greeted them. The siblings heard his greeting and got up to tackle their dad into a tight hug. He squeezed them back so tightly that they had trouble breathing.

"I am so happy to see you to back." He said, with emotion in his voice. Ash and Serena just stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do.

"Dad… can't… breathe!" Clemont finally managed to stammer out. Realizing his mistake, he quickly released them. The two started breathing hard. Seeing that his kids were alright, he turned towards Ash.

"How can I serve the Kalos Champion?" Meyer asked with an exaggerated bow. Ash, not knowing how to react, just sweat-dropped.

"DAD!" Clemont yelled, thoroughly embarrassed at his father's antics. Bonnie was still panting, though not as hard as before.

"Okay, okay." Meyer said laughingly, before turning towards Ash. He brought his hand around Ash's neck in a friendly gesture. "I always knew that a young man like you would take the league by storm. Congratulations!"

"Thanks." Ash said, scratching the back of his head, an action he did when he was embarrassed.

"Take this as a gift from me!" Meyer continued, motioning towards the loaded dining table. Ash's jaw dropped in surprise. _This_ was a gift to him! He was hungry now but he had eaten at tea-time until he was full. He didn't know if he could eat all that food in a million years!

They all sat at the table and Ash thanked the siblings' father. He nodded at them and motioned for them to eat. Ash started devouring the food, as always, while others started eating with some manners, although it was difficult with such tasty food waiting to be eaten.

Something clicked in Bonnie's mind and she turned towards her father. "Dad, how did you know we were coming today? We hadn't called to tell you, had we?"

Hearing her question, Clemont and Serena stopped eating and turned towards Meyer. Ash still continued eating, focused on finishing all the food. Meyer replied, glancing at Serena, "Serena's mother called and told me."

 _How did mom know we were going to reach today itself?_ Serena pondered to herself. Then it occurred to her. _Of course! She was right there when we were talking about reaching Lumiose City by tonight. She must have called Meyer to inform him._

Satisfied with her thoughts, Serena finished eating. Clemont and Bonnie had already finished and were waiting for her and Ash to finish. Soon, it was bed time and everyone went to sleep just like the time when they had helped Clemont take over the gym from his robot Clembot – when it had gone berserk. Ash slept on the couch with Clemont on the floor and Serena and Bonnie shared their bed in Bonnie's room.

It was a peaceful night for whole Kalos as everyone slept soundly. But not everyone could sleep. A balloon was flying towards the general direction of Kanto. The balloon was shaped like a Meowth. The ex-Team Rocket members were heading towards the Kanto region. Meowth was sleeping while his partners, Jessie and James were manning the balloon. He had stayed true to his word and had been controlling the balloon while the two humans slept. He was quite tired by the time they woke up and had proceeded to get a well-deserved rest.

Meowth woke up presently and yawned and turned to see his companions who were looking tired. He got up and looked over the edge of the balloon. The three of them could see the mountains of the Kanto region, bordering the horizon. While it was night in the Kalos region, which they had just left, the sun had just started rising where they were. Hence, the lag in time was affecting them – at least to the two humans. Meowth had just woken up from a deep sleep and so he was wide awake.

"Finally," Jessie proceeded to yawn. "We can see the Kanto region. We will reach there soon."

"Yeah," James agreed before yawning loudly. He rubbed his eyes, trying hard to stay awake. There were bags under his eyes, indicating he hadn't slept and rested well. He turned towards the cat pokémon standing beside him and asked, "Meowth, do you mind taking the controls now? We would really like to sleep."

"Of course not, I will take over the controls. You guys go sleep. I will wake you up when we reach there." Meowth replied, eager to do his bidding. Both of them handed over the controls to him. They were fast asleep even before their heads touched their pillows. Meowth stared at them for a while before turning to look towards their destination.

 ** _Viridian Airport, Viridian City, Kanto_**

"Finally!" A voice said and the girl stretched herself to her full length. She was a brunette and had blue eyes. She was wearing a blue top and white biker shorts with a black strip around it. Completing her outfit was a blue bandana on her head with a white-colored pokéball symbol on it.

A boy around ten-years-old stood beside her. He was wearing his usual green shirt with brown shorts. He had green hair and dark brown eyes. He was twirling a pokéball in his hand, staring at it happily. He had wanted to be a trainer for ages and now he was one. He had chosen Treecko as his starter pokémon and now was training hard so that he could go on his own journey. He hadn't yet decided which region to go to but he wasn't worried too much. He was focused on training right now and kept on having practice battles with his father. His training had paid off and his Treecko had evolved into Grovyle. He now felt ready to go on his journey. With the two siblings were their parents.

"Viridian City, May is finally here!" May said out loud and took a deep breath of the fresh Kanto air. Her brother, Max, imitated her action. Their parents smiled at the duo's energy. In the background, the announcer was announcing the arrival of some flight from Sinnoh region.

"I suppose you two are excited about meeting Ash, huh?" Their mother asked them.

"Of course we are, Mom!" Max exclaimed. "How can we not?" Both of their faces held big grins. They were excited to meet their old friend again and Max was looking forward to challenging him. He had the same trait as Ash when it came to pokémon and battles and he would keep on getting excited at each occurrence of a battle. He knew he was still far from the level of battling that Ash had achieved through continuous training but he wanted to see just how much he had learnt – and the best way was to challenge a champion.

"Let's go!" May said, her voice showing her excitement. "I am going to challenge Ash to a battle as soon as he returns."

Hearing her statement, Max's head shot towards her and he replied, "No way, sis. I will be the one challenging him, not you. What makes you think he would like to battle a Coordinator like you instead of a Trainer like me?"

His statement only helped start one of the siblings' everlasting squabbles. The two started bickering in the typical brother-sister way, threatening all kinds of things and yet, caring for each other – although it didn't seem like that currently. Their parents sighed and were about to step in when they heard May being hailed.

"May!" A familiar voice yelled. Hearing the voice, May snapped out of her and her brother's fight as everyone turned towards the owner of the voice. A familiar blue-headed coordinator was running towards her and waving at her.

"Dawn!" May recognized her friend instantly. Dawn came running up to her and the two hugged each other. The rest looked at them curiously. They remembered May telling them about another budding coordinator travelling with Ash when she had come back from participating in the Wallace Cup in the Sinnoh region. She had told them that the coordinator's name was Dawn. She had lost to her in the finals of the contest.

Feeling their stares, Dawn looked towards them inquisitively. She turned towards May and said, "Do introduce us."

"Right." May nodded and pointed towards her parents and said, "They are my parents."

Dawn greeted them and they greeted her back. Then May pointed towards her brother and said, "This is my brother, Max."

"Hello!" The two greeted each other. Dawn, then, turned towards her friend and asked grinning wide, "Why do I get the feeling that both of us are here for the same reasons?"

"Because we are!" May returned her grin and they started talking about the Kalos League as all of them headed out of the airport. Max listened to the two chatting and sighed. _It is going to be a long day._

 ** _Pallet Town, Kanto_**

A knock was heard on the Ketchum household's door. Mr. Mime, who was dusting the living room, looked up towards the door. The sound of someone cleaning dishes could be heard distinctly, coming from the kitchen.

"Mr. Mime," a voice said from the kitchen, "will you please go and check who is at the door? I suppose it must be another of the townsfolk wanting to congratulate Ash."

Since Ash's win, there had been several knocks on the door as every household came down to congratulate them. Mr. Mime was quite sure that if there were any more knocks, the door would probably fall off its hinges! Nevertheless, he went to the door and opened it only to stare at a big blue-colored blob. He was scared and fell down on the floor.

"Marill!" The blob said and Mr. Mime finally got a good look at who had knocked at the door. His face lit up considerably at the familiar redhead.

"Hello, Mr. Mime!" Misty smiled at the pokémon and he returned her smile. "Did I scare you?"

Hearing the commotion, the woman, who had asked Mr. Mime to open the door, came out from the kitchen as her face lit up as well. "Misty! It's so nice to see you again. Why don't you come inside?"

"Thank you very much, Delia." Misty thanked the woman as she helped Mr. Mime up.

"I suppose you are here to see Ash." Delia said as she led the way to the living room. Misty followed. "He isn't here yet and hasn't yet called to tell me when he is going to be back."

 _That's so very like Ash._ Misty thought. _Always forgetting to call his mother and friends. I doubt he would waste too much time there, though. He must be pretty excited to return home and tell all his pokémon about his win. Of course, pokémon must be first, even before his own mother!_

"I don't think you would have to wait long. He must be quite excited to come back and tell you and his pokémon about his win." Misty said.

"I know that." Delia said nodding. "But if I know my son well, he would probably want to head to Professor Oak's lab first, unless someone comes with him and stops him."

Both women chuckled. They knew quite well that he would protest but eventually agree with them. They were interrupted by another knock on the door. Misty turned towards the door and started walking towards it. As she neared the door, she heard excited chatter coming from behind it. She opened the door to see a brunette and a blue-haired girl talking to each other. Hearing the door open, the two girls turned and Misty stared at her old friend.

"Misty!"

"May!"

The two girls hugged each other while the rest just gazed at them. After a while, the two separated and Misty turned towards Max.

"Max, it's been such a long time since I last saw you! How have you been? And you must be a trainer by now, I suppose?"

Max nodded and showed her Grovyle's pokéball proudly. "Yeah, I am a trainer. And my Treecko has already evolved into Grovyle."

"Don't sound so proud, Max. You are only a novice; don't talk like an expert." May said condescendingly. Hearing her, Max turned on her at once and the two started bickering. The rest of the people just sweat-dropped. Leaving the two to quarrel, Misty turned towards the blue-haired girl and said, "You must be…"

"Dawn." Dawn finished for her. The two wanted to talk and get to know each other but they were interrupted.

"Why don't you all come inside instead of talking in the doorway?" Delia invited them inside and they accepted. All of them started talking about everything they could think of. While Misty and Dawn got to know each other with the help of May and Max, the parents talked and got to know each other as well. Hours passed before they could stop. And the interruption was nothing else than May's stomach!

May was embarrassed but she was put at ease by Delia. They talked over lunch when the topic finally reached Ash and his win. It seemed like all of them were here for the same reason – and all of them knew about his 'girlfriend'.

"Who would have thought?" May said, eating the last piece of her dessert.

"I know. I was so shocked when the girl hugged him." Misty agreed.

"I doubt they are together or she might have kissed Ash or something." Dawn said. Max choked on his dessert on hearing that. He couldn't imagine it. There wasn't much possibility of Ash having a girlfriend, much less of them being together for _that_ long.

And so they talked until it was time to sleep. They were quite tired by the time because of their travel and their continuous talking and catching up on each other's lives. They weren't the only ones who were tired though.

"Good. We have finally reached Kanto."

"Axew!"

Iris and Axew had just arrived through the midnight flight and they were feeling the fatigue of the long trip. They decided to spend the night at the Pokémon Centre before continuing the remaining journey to Pallet Town. They started heading towards the centre and on their way, they passed the railway station. As they were passing the station, they heard a familiar voice.

"Well, it looks like I am quite near Pallet Town. I guess I should just rest now and head there tomorrow." There was a loud yawn.

"Cilan!" Iris exclaimed and started running towards him. The man, who was called, turned in her direction as his face split into a wide smile.

"Iris!" The two friends greeted each other eagerly. As they talked, it became quite obvious that they were here for the same reasons. Deciding that they would continue together, they started heading towards the Pokémon Centre. As they walked, Iris asked Cilan about his journey after they separated.

"It was great," Cilan said. "And I also met an awesome doctor. I forgot to ask him his name, but interestingly, I found out that both of us have a friend who is pokémon-mad and will go to any length to do justice to them."

Iris knew he was talking about Ash, so she nodded. By the time, Cilan told her about the other highlights of his journey, they reached the Pokémon Centre. Just by the sight of it, both of them let out a wide yawn. They looked at each other and smiled.

"Why don't you tell me about your journey, while we walk towards Pallet Town tomorrow?" Cilan asked, as they booked separate rooms.

"Sure."

The next day, both of them woke up late. They were completely knocked out due to their exhaustion but they looked fresh. The two came out and had breakfast as Iris told Cilan about her adventures and her quest to find Rayquaza, the legendary pokémon. They soon finished and left the Pokémon Centre.

As soon as they reached the main street, Cilan brought out his map and they pored over it, trying to find the quickest and safest way to Ash's hometown. While they were there, Iris heard Ash's name mentioned and she turned to see a group of four walking towards them.

Two of them were wearing white lab coats, which told them that they were either researchers or doctors. Another boy was with them. He was wearing all black with a strange blue-colored scarf around his neck. With them was a red-haired girl, looking excited. She was eating an ice cream. Beside her was a strange green-headed pokémon that she had never seen before.

"Let's go! I want to reach there as soon as possible." The red-headed girl said excitedly. "Ash must have come by now!"

"Calm down, Mairin!" One of the lab coat-wearing people said. "We still have time. It will take some time for Ash to escape all the reporters there." He finished with a chuckle.

"Hey, Cilan!" Iris said in a low voice. Hearing her whisper, Cilan turned towards her, surprised. He saw her pointing towards four people walking towards the general direction of Pallet Town. He looked towards them and his eyes widened at seeing a familiar doctor. "Those guys seem to know Ash personally. Let's go talk to them." She continued and turned towards where Cilan was – or had been.

"Hey!" She turned to see Cilan running and waving towards them. Hearing his yell, the four turned towards him in surprise and Brock's eyes widened to see the trainer of his former patient. Cilan reached him and they shook hands as he continued, "Aren't you the doctor who helped my Pansage heal after getting attacked by the Gyarados when I was in the Johto region?"

Brock nodded and said, "Yeah, I am. But how come you are here? I thought you would be in the Johto region." Iris had reached up to them and was curious to see Cilan greet the doctor as if he was an old friend. The other three were just as curious.

"Do you remember me telling about a friend of mine who was into pokémon like crazy?" Cilan asked. Seeing Brock nod, he continued, "I am here to meet him. He just won the Kalos League, you know."

Brock's eyes widened as he said that. _So, when we mentioned a friend of ours who was into pokémon, we were unknowingly talking about the same person, huh? I can't believe it._

"So, all of us are here to meet Ash, after all." Brock said, earning a surprised look from both, Cilan and Iris. "When we mentioned about a friend of ours, we were both actually talking about the same person!"

After that realization, there was a flurry of introductions as all of them started heading towards Pallet Town together.

 ** _Team Rocket Headquarters, Kanto_**

"Come in." Giovanni said, answering the knock on his office door. He was sitting as usual, stroking his Persian. This time, the Persian was sitting at his side. He turned to see his other new recruit, walking in.

The other recruit was a girl. Her eyes and hair were both an unusual yellow. Her hair was just below her shoulder and was tied up in a ponytail behind her head. She was wearing the usual Team Rocket uniform. She looked around nineteen-years-old, much like her partner. She waited for her boss to signal her to speak. Giovanni nodded.

"We have attacked and took control of the two centers in the southwest and southeast of Kanto. We are ready to attack the other two at the east-north-east and west-north-west of Kanto. We have also configured the required necessary details. Once we take control of all of them, we are going to make sure the other regions are ready and we will wait for your orders. The only problem is the central Kanto which includes Viridian City, Viridian Forest and Pallet Town. They aren't in the range of the satellites. What are we going to do about that?"

"Good," Giovanni smirked wickedly. "Attack the other two as soon as possible. Take control of them and make sure they are ready for transmission. If we are ready by the time the satellites come in their correct positions, we will cover the entire world. Make sure to do what I have told you to and as far as central Kanto is concerned," he paused. "Take care of them as you please."

* * *

 **And that ends the third chapter! I would love it if you guys helped me with my writing by giving tips so that I could write even better. See you guys in November!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Welcome once again! So, I know I had said I would update in November but I managed to finish another chapter in this week and I promise this is the last update before November (my internals start this Monday). Now, a few replies:  
**

 **Reply to _guywithglasses_ : Brock's eyes widened all right, but no one else could see it. XD**

 **Shoutout and reply to _UCCMaster:_ Thanks for your tips. I know that there are too many characters to focus on so I am going to divide them into groups with characters having same mentality (like-minded characters in one group). My main focus is going to be the Kalos gang (along with their crushes). But not until a few chapters later. There are going to be all of them for a few chapters, so until then, bear with me. I will try hard to do that in as less chapters as possible. And yeah, Max is older than Bonnie.**

 **Reply to the rest of the reviewers: Thank you all for your kind words. I am glad you all are liking my story so far (but I think it might get predictable as it continues).**

 **I think I am going with Clemont x May, mostly because there aren't any fanfics out there with this ship. It is mostly an experiment so I might not make it canon.**

 **Now, onward with the story!**

* * *

CHAPTER 4

 ** _Viridian Forest, Viridian City, Kanto_**

"Finally, we have landed!" Meowth said, stretching himself. He stretched for a full minute before sighing loudly. "I can't believe I actually landed the balloon myself."

He heard a grunt and turned to see James turning in his sleep. Jessie had just woken up. She rubbed her eyes and yawned loudly. She got up while scratching her back and looking like she had just woken up from a 20-year-long sleep. "Where are we, Meowth?"

"Just landed in the Viridian Forest," Meowth reported. "We are around a mile away from the city."

"Good thing; I was wondering just when we were going to land." Jessie replied, rubbing the rest of her sleep out of her eyes. She gave another yawn and stretched herself. Finally, looking fresh, she asked, "So, when are we going to the market?"

Meowth motioned towards the sleeping James. "Just as soon as he wakes up."

Almost as if he heard that, James's eyes opened and he got up. He gave a loud yawn and stretched himself as well. "So, where are we now?" He asked, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Reached Viridian Forest," Jessie replied shortly.

"Well then, let's go!" James said, finally awake. He turned towards the Viridian City.

"Not before you two change into some other clothes first." Meowth interrupted him.

"He's right, James. We better change into some other clothes. I don't really want to be arrested just because I am wearing the Rocket uniform." Jessie said. "We must be really wanted here considering that this is our home region."

"You could be right, Jess." James said, having turned to listen to their words. "But we don't have any other clothes."

"Except our last disguise." Meowth said, rummaging through their stocks. He came up with their last disguise, which were two researchers' coats. It would be a strange disguise considering they were going to shop for some more clothes, but they changed into it anyway. Jessie was all for throwing the Rocket uniform away but Meowth stopped her from throwing it, saying that they might need it. Finally agreeing with him, both of them kept their uniforms and changed into their disguises. After folding the balloon and hiding it in some bushes, all three headed out towards the city.

 ** _Pallet Town, Kanto_**

Dawn had just woken up to see it was morning. She got up and pulled the curtains from the window. Outside she could see green grassy fields spreading out as far as eyes could see. She could have sat there all morning but that would have just been a waste of time. She heard a groan and turned to see May covering herself with her blanket, still trying to sleep. Dawn went near her and pulled the blanket off of her suddenly.

"What is it, Dawn?" May asked furiously, lunging at her. Dawn dodged as she answered.

"Wake up sleepy-head. Don't forget we are at Ash's home and we are going to welcome him when he comes."

"I know, but you could have let me sleep, you know?" May said, still furious at being woken up rudely.

"Whatever, just come down when you are ready." Dawn said rolling her eyes and tossing the blanket back at May. She went into the bathroom to get ready. May lied down but after being woken up so rudely, she couldn't get back to sleep. She got up as well and waited for Dawn to come out of the bathroom so that she could get ready as well.

Meanwhile, Misty and Delia had already got up and they were preparing breakfast.

"Misty, do you mind going up and waking up May and Dawn? Tell them, its breakfast time." Delia said, turning towards Misty, who was setting up the table.

"Of course not, I will just go up and wake up those two sleepy-heads." Misty replied and bounded up the stairs towards their guest room. She reached there in time to hear May yelling at Dawn to come out of the bathroom.

"Come on out, Dawn! I want to get ready as well. You can do your hair later," May yelled through the bathroom door. Misty chuckled. Meeting Dawn last night, she knew how much Dawn cared about her hair and liked to look her best.

"Just a minute, May! I'm almost done."

"You have been saying that for the last half an hour."

Just as May said that, the bathroom door flew open and Dawn stood there looking her best.

 _Well, she would have if it wasn't for that scowl._ Misty thought as she looked at Dawn scowling.

"Couldn't you have waited for some time? There was no need to yell at me like that." Dawn said.

Before the fight got too much out of hand, Misty decided to interrupt. "Stop fighting, girls! If you keep on bickering like that, I won't let you eat the delicious breakfast that Delia is making right now."

Hearing that, both of their eyes widened and May rushed into the bathroom quickly, not wanting to miss any breakfast. Dawn looked sheepish as she left the room with Misty. Both of them reached the dining room in time to smell a delicious aroma. They saw Delia putting a few plates on the table.

She must have heard them for she turned to them and invited them to take a seat. They took their seats and Delia was about to serve the breakfast when they heard someone running down the steps. They all turned to see May standing at the door, panting for all she was worth. Dawn looked at her disbelievingly as she took her seat.

"How did you get ready so soon?" Dawn asked in amazement.

Looking at her, May replied, "Maybe because I don't spend too much time on my hair."

"Shut up, May!" Misty said, as she saw Dawn about to retort. "Or you won't get any breakfast."

The threat silenced both the girls and they started eating breakfast. Soon enough, everyone was done and the girls started helping Delia clean up. Just as Dawn was done putting the last of the dishes in their places, she heard a knock on the door. She turned towards the rest only to see them busy doing their allotted chores. She shrugged her shoulders and went to the door. She opened the door to stare in red eyes. The sudden eye-contact scared both humans – or more precisely a human and a pokémon. Dawn gave a little squeal and stepped back to see a familiar pokémon and its trainer.

"Hey Dawn!" The purple-haired trainer said and hugged her. Dawn hugged her back happily.

"Hey Iris, long time no see!" Dawn looked behind her and her smile grew even bigger. "Brock, Cilan and Gary! What are you two doing here?"

She shook hands with the boys and invited them inside. Hearing the noise, May came out of the kitchen to see what was going on. Her face grew a big smile at the familiar faces as well. "Hey guys, long time no see!" She turned her head to whoever was inside the kitchen and yelled, "Misty, Delia! Look who is here."

She ran towards the front door where everyone was standing and shook hands with both Brock and Gary. The two boys also had big smiles on their faces to see the familiar people. While the old friends were talking with each other, the rest of the people were standing by awkwardly not knowing what to do.

Hearing May's yell, both Misty and Delia came out and their faces also lit up at seeing the guests. Misty ran towards Brock first and hugged him. After separating, she went towards Gary and hugged him as well. Although it was meant to be a friendly hug, both of them felt their faces slightly heat up. No one else saw them blush. They separated and Delia invited everyone inside.

After another flurry of introductions, they all sat in the living room to get acquainted with each other while helping Delia with her morning household chores. Iris was interested in battling Misty while Mairin was interested in Pokémon Contests and was attacking May and Dawn with a flood of questions. Brock and Cilan were talking about different recipes of food and Alain and Gary were talking about their research.

 ** _Lumiose City, Kalos_**

"Good morning, Bonnie!" Bonnie heard a familiar voice greet her. She opened an eye and saw Serena standing in her nightdress, looking at her with a smile.

"Good morning, Serena!" Bonnie greeted her back sleepily. She turned to her right, expecting to feel the soft mattress. Instead, she fell down from the bed. She had been sleeping on the edge of the bed and fell down hard. Serena came up to her running and asked if she was okay.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Bonnie said, sorry at having herself jolted awake from the tumble. The two heard a knock on the door as Serena helped Bonnie up. Clemont's voice could be heard calling them.

"Bonnie, Serena, are you both awake?"

"Yeah!" Serena replied.

"Breakfast is ready! Go down fast while I go and wake Ash up, okay?" Footsteps could be heard receding from the door. Bonnie seemed to have regained energy just by hearing about breakfast for she ran into the bathroom to wash herself while yelling at Serena to get ready. Serena shook her head at her never-ending energy and sighed.

Soon enough, Bonnie was impatiently waiting in the room while Serena was washing herself.

"Come on, Serena, faster!" Bonnie shouted through the bathroom door. It had been only ten minutes but she was already feeling impatient. Just as she was about to yell a second time, the bathroom door opened and Serena came out, looking clean and fresh. "You could have come faster, Serena. I don't want to miss any breakfast."

Serena sighed at her impatience and replied, "It has only been ten minutes, Bonnie. You are complaining as though I had spent the whole morning in there. Besides, Clemont would have kept our breakfast anyway; you hadn't needed to worry."

Bonnie was about to reply when they suddenly heard a loud yell coming from the door next to their room. They ran out the room and entered the next room hurriedly, as they heard Clemont panting his way up the stairs. The voice was very familiar, for it belonged to the recent Kalos League winner.

Clemont reached up the stairs and into the room to see Bonnie and Dedenne laughing and Serena looking concernedly at Ash. Ash himself was covered with black soot and it seemed he had got a few light burns on his arm. Pikachu was standing by his bed, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. There was no other visible damage to the room or any belongings.

"What just happened?" Clemont asked, as he went over to where Ash was lying and helped him get up with Serena. Bonnie had stopped laughing, although she still had a big smile on her face.

"Are you okay, Ash?" Serena asked worriedly thinking he might still be shocked. Ash coughed out some black smoke.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ash said and stood up himself, as both Serena and Clemont let him go. Though it didn't seem likely, they were standing near him, in case he needed any support.

"Not much, Clemont." Bonnie started to reply to her brother's question. "Pikachu shocked him because he wasn't getting up."

Clemont was about to ask Ash if he was okay when Ash interrupted. "Don't worry guys! I am quite fine. I am used to Pikachu's thunderbolts so it doesn't affect me that much."

Pikachu just sighed while Serena and Clemont looked at him strangely. Deciding that he looked fine, Clemont said, "Well, I had come to call you for breakfast. Since you didn't wake up…"

Before Clemont could finish his sentence, Ash suddenly got up and ran towards the stairs, yelling, "Breakfast, here I come!" He didn't watch his step and missed one, so instead of running down, he fell down the stairs. The other three watched in shock as he went down. Finally reaching the bottom, he stopped, landing on the back of his neck.

"Ouch!"

"Are you okay, Ash?" All three, along with Pikachu, ran down the stairs to where their friend was lying.

Ash got up, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't expect to fall down like that."

The three looked at him incredulously, wondering how someone could be completely fine after falling down the stairs like that. Serena was about to ask the same question again when they were interrupted by an appetizing smell. Getting a whiff of it, Ash ran towards the dining table while the rest just shook their heads at his juvenile behavior. They followed him to see him devouring his food as though it would run away if he didn't. They sat down with him.

"So, when are you going home, Ash?" Clemont asked. He knew it was inevitable so it would best be done with sooner.

Ash looked up from his breakfast with a slightly sad look in his eyes, although his expression didn't show it. "Late afternoon, today." Wanting to change the topic, he asked looking around, "Where is Meyer? I don't see him."

"He has gone to the Pokémon Centre. Amphorus wasn't feeling well and besides there seems to be some kind of electrical problem there, so he decided to head there himself. He will probably come soon."

Just as Clemont finished answering his question, the front door opened. Bonnie ran towards the door to see the visitor. "Dad," she was heard in the dining room, "We were wondering where you had disappeared to. How's Amphorus? He's okay, isn't he?"

"He's all right." Meyer entered the room and replied to the kid, settling her worries. "I am not late for breakfast, am I?"

"You're not. We have just started." Serena said.

"So long as Ash doesn't eat it all, you will get a good share of the breakfast." Bonnie said in a low voice. Fortunately, no one heard her. Ash greeted his host and returned to eating, though not as greedily as before.

As Meyer sat down, Clemont and Serena noticed him slightly smiling. Bonnie was too busy with her breakfast to notice them. The two wondered what had happened at the Pokémon Centre. They didn't let that be on their thoughts for long, knowing they only have a few hours till Ash's flight back to his home.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent at the gym. All the pokémon were playing with each other for what they thought was the last time. Even the trainers themselves joined the pokémon in their play. Clembot and Meyer kept an eye on everyone in case something happened.

When the clock struck 3:00 p.m., Meyer called everyone and said, "Well, I am really sorry to interrupt your games but it is about time Ash went to the airport and got ready for his journey home."

All of the trainers and pokémon knew about the unavoidable but hearing it out loud really crushed them from the inside. All the pokémon turned towards each other and started saying their goodbyes. The trainers were distressed to see their pokémon so sad but there wasn't much they could do about it. Ash would have to head home some day and today was the day.

Finally after saying their goodbyes, the pokémon were returned to their pokéballs and everyone got ready to head towards the airport. Seeing their father getting out of the front door with them, Clemont turned towards him and asked, "Are you coming too, Dad? What about the shop?"

"Of course I am coming." Their father replied, "Clembot can take care of the shop for a while, won't you, Clembot?" He asked, directing the question towards the robot.

"Don't worry about the shop. I will take care of it while you go." Clembot replied in his robotic voice. Nodding, the group of five started towards the airport.

In what Bonnie thought was no time, they reached the airport. They were about to enter when they saw a familiar blue-haired girl running towards them – Serena's rival, Miette. She reached them and started panting hard. Finally regaining her breath, she turned to Ash and said, "I hope I am not late to congratulate you, Ash!"

"You are not." Ash replied with a smile. Serena was slightly pouting, not really happy to see her rival in _two_ competitions there. Bonnie was eyeing her, somewhat suspiciously, as well. "As a matter-of-fact, you are just on time. I was just about to leave for my home." His smile dropped slightly as he said that.

"Well then, congratulations! And good luck with your challenge of the Elite Four!" Without giving him a chance to reply, Miette turned towards Serena with a smile and offered her, her hand to shake. "And I am not losing to you again next time."

Miette's determination reached Serena clearly, in her words as well as in her eyes. She returned her smile and shook her hand. "You won't be defeating me easily. By the time you come back to challenge me, you will be challenging the Kalos Queen."

Miette suddenly pulled her towards herself, so that she could whisper. She whispered in her ear eerily, "And don't think I have forgotten about the other competition as well. I am not going to back out of that either."

Hearing her words, Serena recoiled back suddenly, red with shock and embarrassment, as though everyone must have heard that. Even if not everyone, Bonnie sure heard that with her sharp sense of hearing and smirked at Serena's discomfort. But she still didn't feel good that Miette, of all people, was trying to make Ash fall for her. She glared silently at Miette.

"We better not waste much time." Everyone turned towards Meyer, who was looking at his watch. He turned towards Ash. "You don't want to be late for your flight, do you?"

Shaking his head, Ash turned towards Miette and wished her luck with her baking. He then started following Meyer, who had already started towards the airport. Clemont and Serena followed, Serena slightly mad at Ash for wishing her rival luck. Bonnie just stood near Miette for a while.

"Serena, Serena! You better make your move while you still have time. Ash isn't going to wait for you forever." Bonnie heard Miette mutter. She snapped her head towards the older girl in surprise. _What did Miette mean by that?_

Miette noticed the younger girl staring at her and turned towards her questioningly. Noticing her stare, Bonnie decided to ask her. "What did you mean by that, Miette?"

Returning her stare, Miette studied her thoughtfully. She decided to take a shot. "Do you know about Serena's crush?"

She was surprised to see the kid nod her head. It seemed like everyone knew about Serena's crush other than the one person who should have known. She started answering Bonnie's question, "Since you know about her crush, I will tell you what I meant."

Receiving another nod, she continued, "I had actually noticed her crush right at the time when I first met you all. I am pretty good at sizing people up and I could see Serena as one of those girls who are shy and would keep quiet in fear of their own negative thoughts, that is, afraid to take risks in things such as relationships. There were two ways I could have helped her – either advise her and let it be wasted or become her love rival so that she is forced to take steps. And you know what I did."

"Wow, I wasn't expecting you to be such a good person."

"I suppose that must have been my first impression." Miette scratched her cheek and sweat-dropped. "I am sorry for that."

"No need to apologize. Now that I know this, I don't think it matters at all how you behaved."

Bonnie wanted to talk more but she was interrupted by her brother's yell. "Bonnie, come fast!"

"Looks like I have to go. Thanks Miette, for telling me the truth." Bonnie waved to the older girl and ran towards Clemont, who was still standing at the entrance. _Well, I didn't know Miette was such a good actress. She could easily work in any film if she wanted to, like Diantha._

Miette waved back and headed towards the Pokémon Centre.

Just as the two siblings entered the airport, the announcer announced for all the Kanto heading passengers to head towards the second terminal. It was the point where Ash would enter the flight that would take him home.

Ash turned to face the rest of the group and looked at them sadly. Clemont shared his sad expression while Bonnie looked like she was about to burst into tears. Serena's hat shadowed her eyes, hiding her emotions.

"Well, looks like this is it." Ash said miserably. Clemont simply nodded and embraced Ash. After separating, Ash turned towards Bonnie and bent down to her eye level. Bonnie was holding tight on her brother's pants, trying hard not to cry. Ash gave a sad smile. "Don't worry Bonnie! I know you want to be a trainer and you will be an awesome one; I just know it. Never give up."

Bonnie nodded at Ash's words and returned a watery smile. She promised herself that she would remember all that Ash had taught her unknowingly as well as everything she learnt on the journey. Ash got up and turned towards the last person – his childhood friend, Serena. "I know you will do great for your showcases, Serena. I will always wish you luck for them. And of course, always remember," He paused, "Never give up until the very end!"

Serena didn't move for a while. During that time, Ash got concerned. _Why isn't she moving? Did I say something wrong? I hope not._

Meanwhile, Meyer had been watching curiously. He never knew Ash could get himself to sound so mature. It was almost like he was used to this kind of separation hurting him – which he was. He glanced towards his kids and saw just how much this was hurting them; yet they were trying to be strong. He felt proud of them.

Finally, Serena moved and took a step towards Ash. It was followed by another and another until she had reached up to him. Her hat still hid her eyes, shadowing her feelings. Ash stood there staring at her, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, Serena lunged at the surprised Ash and enveloped him in a hug, crying on his shoulder. It was too much for her to let go of her crush. She wasn't even sure if it was just a crush anymore. Meeting him after such a long time and travelling with him, she had discovered her dream and she had experienced everything she could have asked for. But this was one thing she really didn't want – separating from Ash.

Ash, too stunned to move, just stood there with wide eyes. Serena's action took not only Ash but also the rest three and his Pikachu by total surprise. Seeing her reaction was too much for Bonnie, who ran towards where Serena was hugging Ash, and embraced the two into another hug, crying with Serena. Dedenne was copying her actions, but was hugging Pikachu instead.

Ash finally snapped out of his trance as Bonnie tackled them. He motioned to Clemont to join them. Clemont reached them and the group squeezed itself into a large hug, with the girls crying. Meyer was surprised at the girls' reactions; he hadn't expected the group to have such a close bond, like a family.

Half a minute was spent in the hug, before they all separated. Serena and Bonnie had stopped crying but were still sniffing. Clemont looked fairly depressed. Thinking this to be the right time, Meyer started, "Instead of crying like that, why don't you all continue your journey with Ash?"

Hearing his question, everyone snapped their attention to him. While Serena's eyes had widened, Clemont and Bonnie had their jaws dropped in disbelief. Had their father just said that he would let them go?

"You mean we are allowed to go with Ash?" Bonnie asked uncertainly.

"Sure, why not?" Everyone turned towards Ash who had spoken. He had a smile on his face as he continued, "Why don't you all come with me? We will be able to spend even more time together. I bet even my pokémon must be excited to meet you all."

Clemont turned towards his father to ask about the tickets. Meyer must have known what he wanted to ask for he said, "Don't worry about your tickets. They are right here."

He pulled three tickets out of his pocket and held it out so that everyone could see them. Having their doubts settled, all three of them were elated. How could they have forgotten something so trivial? They could have simply asked their parents for the permission.

Highly elated, both Bonnie and Clemont ran and tackled their father into a hug. "Thanks so much, dad! We simply couldn't be separated so easily after spending such a long time with each other."

The siblings thanked their father earnestly. Meanwhile, Serena was still slightly hesitant. She had no problem going with the three but she still hadn't asked her mother for her consent. As if reading her mind, Meyer said, "Don't worry about your mother, Serena. I already asked her and she has given you her agreement to it. You are allowed to go with them."

The other three faced her with big smiles on their faces. She couldn't help but grin widely at her fortune. Meyer handed them their tickets, just as something clicked in Clemont's mind. He asked, "Who gave you the tickets, dad?"

Meyer glanced at Ash and replied, "Nurse Joy handed them to me when I was there. Apparently, the champion had made provisions for the winner's friends."

Hearing himself being referred to as 'the winner', Ash felt embarrassed and he scratched the back of his head. _I suppose that must have been what I forgot at the league's Pokémon Centre. Diantha must have arranged for the tickets._

His thoughts were interrupted by the final announcement to the Kanto-bound passengers for reaching the terminal. Knowing they had very less time, the siblings quickly said their goodbyes as Serena promised herself to call and thank her mom for her consent. All four ran swiftly towards the terminal where all the passengers were heading.

In less than fifteen minutes, they were already seated at their allotted seats – Bonnie, Serena and Ash in the three-seater on the left side in the middle of the airplane and Clemont behind them in the window-seat. By the time the airplane took off, it was already dinner-time, as signaled by Ash's stomach.

Once the plane settled at a regular altitude, the airhostess of their plane got up from her seat and started asking the passengers for any problems and making them comfortable. As soon as Bonnie saw her, she ran up to her, got down on her knee and asked, "Will you please take care of my brother?"

The airhostess did not know how to react to the kid's proposal. The other passengers were just as bemused at her. Clemont, though, was thoroughly embarrassed at his sister's actions. "Bonnie, I have told you a million times not to do that!"

He ran up to her, made her apologize and pulled her towards the back of the plane, where the restrooms were. While Ash and Serena sweat-dropped amused at her never-ending desire to find a wife for her brother, the rest of the passengers chuckled at her antics, thinking it to be quite cute.

A few minutes later, the two siblings came back with Clemont still looking red in the face. Ash and Serena gave him comforting smiles, knowing Bonnie must be a handful to keep an eye on all the time. Clemont smiled back, grateful for their support.

After a good dinner, in which many of the surrounding passengers stared at Ash in disbelief, astounded at the quantity he ate, it was time to sleep. Bonnie was at the window seat, followed by Serena in the middle seat. Ash sat in the seat next to the aisle. Tired due to their play in the afternoon, everyone was already sleeping, snoring loudly.

A few hours later, Bonnie woke up feeling thirsty. She saw Serena peacefully sleeping and proceeded to get up noiselessly. She was about to pass over the two teenagers when she got an idea. She turned towards where they were. While Ash had rested his head on the headrest of the seat, Serena had, somehow, leaned slightly towards Ash resting her head on the edge of her headrest.

Bonnie impishly gave a slight push to Serena's shoulder. Her body, unbalanced due to the shove, reacted at once and she started leaning towards Ash. In a few seconds, Serena's head was resting on Ash's shoulder, just as Bonnie had foreseen.

Ash's eye suddenly twitched and Bonnie noticed it immediately. She tensed up, waiting for Ash to wake up any time. Ash slightly moved, as if getting comfortable, in his sleep. Finding a relaxed position, he calmed down at once and slept, not knowing what had happened. Serena's head was still resting on his shoulder.

Seeing that she was safe, Bonnie exhaled a deep breath that she hadn't known she had been holding. She passed slowly over the two teenagers, who were blissfully unaware of their awkward positions, and went towards the restrooms. She was back in a few minutes and once again passed the two slowly, so that she wouldn't disturb their sleep, and went to sleep at once, grinning mischievously and waiting for the morning. She knew she was playing the role of the cupid for the two and she wanted to make sure she passed that test with flying colors.

 ** _Team Rocket Headquarters, Kanto_**

"Giovanni, everyone else is ready for video-conferencing." Giovanni's assistant told him. Giovanni turned towards the large screen to see his old rivals, now allies from all the regions that 'that Ketchum' travelled through. He was still petting his Persian, both the pokémon and its trainer apparently addicted to the action.

"Are all the centers ready?" He asked to every one of them, though his eyes were still focused on his Persian.

"Yeah, all are ready. We are waiting for you to take up the five decided ones in your region."

"I've got two in my control and two others ready to be attacked. They will be under control by the next twenty-four hours. There is nothing at the north of the region so we have decided to construct an isolated one. We will start at that once we take care of the two."

The faces at the screen nodded, apparently knowing what the Rocket boss meant. One of them; he was wearing a strange red-colored hat on his head, said, "Good. The satellites will be in their positions in three weeks or so. We have been keeping an eye on the allotted ones and our calculations so far match."

Another of them; she was wearing a sea-blue colored bandana on her head, spoke, "We all are also ready with the backup plans in case the Ketchum boy interferes with you and delays the plan."

Giovanni nodded, pleased with all the preparations. The only thing remaining was given to his newest recruits to take care of and they were doing a great job so far.

"Tell us when you are ready." Giovanni turned towards the black-clad figure on the extreme right of his screen. "We are focusing on keeping the police away for the time being. Once you warn us, we will focus on the main job."

"It's a good thing that your plan satisfies all our goals." This time it was an orange-clad figure speaking. He also had orange-colored glasses on his eyes. "This time we'll make sure no one interferes, especially that Ketchum kid."

Giovanni nodded and chuckled, "Good! You are all doing a great job so far. I will let you know once I am done here."

* * *

 **And that ends the fourth chapter! I bet you know who the people were with whom Giovanni held this small conference. If you do, don't tell anyone or don't mention it in reviews. If you don't, just wait until the real adventure starts.**

 **See you all (this time for sure :P) in November!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone! I am back now. My internals are over and I am really enjoying the peace for a while. Since I was home for the rest of the day with nothing to do, I finished this chapter - which I had already started. Here you go with the chapter:  
**

 **Before that, to avoid any confusion, the ages of the main characters are as follows:**

 **Ash: 16 (will turn 17)**

 **Serena: 16**

 **Clemont: 16**

 **Bonnie: 8 (will turn 9)**

 **Misty: 19**

 **May: 17**

 **Dawn: 17**

 **Iris: 16**

 **Gary: 17**

 **Brock: 20**

 **Cilan: 20**

 **Max: 10**

 **Jessie: 20  
**

 **James: 20  
**

 **I am leaving the ages of the older characters to you readers. Now, let's start with the next chapter!**

 **One more thing: I do not own pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 5

"The plane will land in Viridian City soon." Serena woke up and blinked her eyes. The sun was directly facing her and the sunlight was piercing her eyes. She lifted her head up from her headrest – or so she thought. She turned towards her right and saw Ash slightly leaning towards the aisle. As her memory cleared, she realized she had woken up slightly bent to her right. She once again looked at Ash and blushed bright red. Had she slept on his shoulder? She couldn't believe that it could have happened.

"Just how long do you mean by soon? You have been saying that for the last half an hour." Bonnie's complaining voice broke into Serena's thoughts. She turned towards her left to see Bonnie standing on her seat, looking back at her brother. Clemont looked irritated by her continuous grumbling.

"I told you we will reach there soon. It's a pity you didn't sleep longer. I would have been spared from your grumbling."

"It isn't my fault you were tinkering with your next blow-off-in-our-faces invention. Your tinkering is what woke me up. I would have preferred to sleep longer anyway."

"I wasn't tinkering! I was just checking I had all my tools with me. And not all my inventions blow off in our faces, okay?"

Bonnie was about to retort back when Serena yawned loudly. It was certainly boring to see siblings fight with each other when you couldn't get any word in between! Besides, she had just woken up and she didn't want her morning get spoiled just due to a disagreement.

"Why are you two fighting so early in the morning?" Serena asked them groggily. Both the siblings looked apologetic as Bonnie said, "I am really sorry, Serena. I didn't mean to wake you up like that."

"I am sorry too, Serena." Clemont said just as contritely.

"Don't worry you two. I certainly needed to wake up." Serena replied now fully awake. She stretched herself as much as she could in her cramped seat. Ash was still snoring, though not as loudly as before.

"So Serena," Serena turned towards Bonnie, who had a naughty look in her eyes. "How was your beauty sleep?"

Serena went crimson, as she glared fiercely at her surrogate sister. _So I had slept on Ash's shoulder. Bonnie must have had something to do with it._

"What do you mean, Bonnie?" Serena asked her, while trying to regain her composure.

"Oh nothing really! Just wondering how well you slept." Bonnie replied innocently, though her eyes still betrayed her innocence.

"Stop it Bonnie or you will wake Ash up as well!" Clemont ordered her saving Serena from further embarrassment. Just as he said that, Ash's eyes blinked open and he gave a huge yawn.

"Hey guys! How long are we from Viridian City?" He asked drowsily.

"Not too far. We will reach in fifteen minutes." Clemont answered his question. Bonnie cheered. Ash and Serena smiled at her.

"What about breakfast?" Ash was wide awake just by thinking about breakfast. Serena looked at the watch in her guidebook.

"It is 11:45 p.m. right now, according to the guidebook." She said puzzled that her guidebook was showing nighttime even when the morning had dawned.

"That's the Kalos time, Serena." She turned towards the inventor, who continued with his explanation. "We are in a different time zone. The Kanto time zone is around 8 hours ahead of Kalos time zone. So, it must be around 8:00 a.m."

 _How could I have forgotten?_ Serena nodded at Clemont and set the time in her guidebook according to the Kanto time zone. "Well, that means we are about to land soon."

They straightened themselves up and waited impatiently for the pilot to announce their landing. In a few minutes, they could see the city below them.

"Everything looks so tiny." Bonnie said, fascinated by the sight. She and Dedenne were staring out the window, sticking their nose to it. She would have looked funny if anyone would have been able to see her from outside. As it was, they were still flying although it seemed that the plane had slowed down.

"We are about to land at the Viridian Airport." The captain's voice came through.

In another few minutes, the plane finally landed. The four disembarked from the plane along with many of the passengers. All four of them stretched themselves, as Bonnie looked around the foreign land curiously. Just as they entered the airport to go and claim their baggage, they heard an announcement for Serena to go and attend to a call.

 _That's strange._ Serena thought, running towards the phone booth which was announced. The others followed her inquisitively. She reached the phone booth just as it rang again.

 _The videophones here are different from the ones in Kalos._ Clemont observed. _They don't look as uncomfortable as they are back at home. The ones there have to be looked up to and it strains the neck muscles. These models are certainly better._

They reached Serena as she picked up the receiver. The caller was none other than Shauna. "Hey guys!"

"Hey Shauna!" They greeted her back as Ash continued. "How come you called us?"

"Well actually I wanted to talk to Serena." Shauna replied, glancing at Serena. "You don't mind if you leave us alone for a while, do you?"

"Of course not." Ash said. He then turned towards Serena and said, "We will be waiting near the baggage claiming section. Come there as soon as you are done."

"We will claim your bag there as well." Clemont said, following Ash who had already walked off. Bonnie followed the two. She waved at Shauna and turned, but not before catching a hint of mischief in her eyes. She wondered what Shauna wanted to tell Serena that they shouldn't listen to.

As soon as they had gone, Serena turned back as Shauna started mischievously, "That Ash certainly cares about you a lot. That's why you like him, isn't that right?"

Serena went red, knowing at once that Shauna had picked up on her crush. She knew she couldn't hide her crush forever. She decided to admit it. "Yeah, that's right."

Shauna looked surprised when she readily admitted her crush. "I thought you wouldn't want me to know about this."

"I sure didn't. But Bonnie and Miette had already picked up on this. So, I knew I couldn't hide this from you either."

"So Bonnie knows already, huh?"

"She does." Serena said with a nod. "That kid knows too much about this for my liking. And it's like everyone knows except the one person who should know about this."

"I see. Well, you better make your move soon. Ash isn't going to wait for you forever."

"I know, but I just can't get myself to say it to him."

"I know it won't be easy but if you are too late, you will have to forget about him completely."

Serena sighed in defeat as a thought occurred to her. "How did you know where was I? I don't remember telling you about my sudden decision. And how did you pick up on my crush?"

"I had called your mother and she told me. I was hoping to catch you right here so you wouldn't have to talk to me in his mother's presence."

 _Oh gosh! I completely forgot of his mother. I wonder how I am going to face her._ Serena thought.

"And as far as your crush is concerned," Shauna continued, snapping Serena out of her thoughts, "I didn't pick up on it until I put together all the hints that you gave him."

"And you called me just to tease me?" Serena raised her eyebrows at her. Her blush was completely gone by now.

"In a way," Shauna replied shrugging her shoulders. Before Serena could say anything else, Shauna gave her a naughty smile and a wink before disconnecting the call. Serena sighed again and left the booth and headed towards the baggage claiming section. She reached her waiting friends and took her bag from Ash's hands.

"So what did Shauna want to talk about?" Bonnie asked curiously. Serena gave her a knowing look, as Ash and Clemont waited for her answer. Bonnie knew at once that Shauna had caught up on her crush but didn't say anything.

"She just wanted to talk about some performance tricks." Serena said. The boys were satisfied with her answer. They all exited the airport as Ash yelled out loud, "Pallet Town, here I come!"

His sudden shout invited stares from many of the people around as their eyes widened. A boy suddenly yelled, "Hey isn't that Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, the winner of the Kalos League?"

The boy's shout was heard all around them as people started gathering to catch a glimpse of the famous league winner. Serena and Clemont, apprehensive of what was about to happen next, put their hands over his mouth. Bonnie didn't look in the least bothered. Ash shook himself free of their hands and was about to say something, when Clemont hissed in his ear, "Don't say anything. You are already gathering quite a crowd as it is."

Hearing his words, Ash looked around and suddenly started feeling fearful.

"Let's get his autograph."

As soon as the words were heard, everyone started closing in on the group of four. Before their escape got cut off completely, Ash burst into a sprint, followed by Serena and a laughing Bonnie. The rear was brought by a panting Clemont. As soon as they burst into a run, the crowd started following them as well, yelling, "We want your autograph, Ash Ketchum."

It just occurred to Clemont that being the league winner did not give you many fans in Kalos, mostly because the Kalosian people knew how much the celebrities hate obsessed fans. Instead, special times were given for you to get any celebrity's autograph. Since Ash had just defeated the league, the people must have assumed that he might not be used to having fans and had let him go – just as he himself would not go near any recently made personality.

But it was not the same thing in other regions. Here, winning a league was a big deal. No wonder they were about to be trampled by a huge crowd following them. The four turned a corner and then hid themselves into a gap between two buildings that had come up. The crowd hadn't seen them and they ran ahead of the gap, not even giving a fleeting glance there.

As soon as they were gone, Ash said, "Follow me guys. I know the shortest distance to the bushes on the side of the road heading to my town."

The four followed him as they ran as fast as they could. In under a few minutes, in which they were given a few strange glances, they reached the bushes. All four jumped in there, panting at their recent run.

"I didn't expect to be greeted in that way." Ash said, breathing hard.

"How could you not expect?" Serena asked, looking at him oddly. _How could someone not expect to have fans in his home region if he had just won a league?_

"So how are we going to head to your home without a mob following us like that?" Clemont asked.

"Don't worry. We just have to follow this road." Ash said, pointing towards the opposite direction from the one that they had come. "All we have got to do is stay in the cover of these bushes. Once we reach the outskirts, there won't be anyone there to come after us."

Nodding, all four started towards the direction in which Ash had pointed. Sure enough, they soon reached the top of the hill. They wouldn't have noticed it had Ash not pointed it out to them.

As soon as they reached the top, Ash stepped out of the bushes boldly. His companions followed, still somewhat uneasy. But Ash had been right, for there was not a soul in sight. From the top, they could see Pallet Town, Ash's home. The panorama was really beautiful with lush green grass as far as eyes could see and a few houses to mark the location of the town.

Ash started running towards it as his companions followed. They soon reached a crossroad as Ash yelled, "Come on guys! Let's go to Professor's Oak lab. We can meet my pokémon there."

Bonnie cheered but Serena stopped at once and said, "Wait a minute, Ash!"

Hearing her voice, Ash and Bonnie, who had been following him, stopped at once. Serena continued, "Don't you think you should first meet your mom and tell her about your win?"

"But I want to see my pokémon first." Ash whined.

"I know but your mom comes first." Serena shot back. Hanging his head in defeat, Ash agreed with her as Pikachu patted him on his back and Bonnie smirked at how readily he agreed. Clemont managed to catch up with them as they started towards his home with Ash in the lead. They soon reached his house as he opened the door and yelled, "Mom, I am back! Where are you?"

Serena suddenly felt apprehensive. She had completely forgotten about the 'hug' and she had no idea how his mother would react to seeing her. Footsteps were heard from the kitchen but it wasn't Delia who came out – it was Misty.

"Misty!" Ash exclaimed as he neared her. Misty smiled at him and came towards him.

"Ash Ketchum!" Misty said, with mock anger, as she reached him. "How dare you forget to call your mother?"

Ash knew she wasn't really angry, but the Kalosians were unsure how to take her words. As he registered her words, he scratched the back of his head. "I forgot."

Misty shook her head at his short-term memory. "How could you forget something like that?"

"I was busier trying to evade my fans."

Misty looked at him skeptically but let it go, knowing how everyone reacted to any famous celebrity.

"Do you know Ash really well?" Bonnie suddenly asked, making the other three's presence known.

Misty seemed to notice her now as she replied, "Yeah, I do. I travelled with him through Kanto, Orange Islands and Johto region. Of course, he was quite immature then."

"Just how much have you travelled, Ash?" Clemont asked inquiringly. Serena looked just as curious. Misty heard his question and shook her head.

"You haven't told them, have you, Ash? You never tell anyone how much you travel." Misty said.

"No one bothers to ask me." Ash said, shrugging his shoulders. "Now let's see, I have travelled through Kanto, Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Decolore Islands and now, Kalos."

The group's jaws dropped as he went on. _No wonder he has 68 pokémon! He has already travelled through six regions by now._ Clemont thought.

"Where is mom?" Ash asked. Misty pointed at the huge building that they could see on a small rise and said, "Delia and Mr. Mime are there with Professor Oak. I was just going to head there but as it was, you came up here."

"Let's head there together, now." Ash said energetically, running towards the building. Bonnie followed, mimicking his actions. Clemont was about to yell at the two to wait for them when Misty interrupted. "Let them go."

Serena and Clemont looked at her as she looked at their retreating figures. "It would be useless to try and stop him. He will stop only when he sees his pokémon."

She stepped out of the house, followed by the two remaining Kalosians and locked the door. Once they were on the main road, they introduced themselves and got familiar with each other.

The three newly-acquainted people soon reached a fenced enclosure and saw Bonnie sitting on the fence, looking concerned. Fearing that something might have happened, Serena and Clemont ran towards her. Misty followed them, though she already knew what had happened. The three reached where Bonnie was standing, just as Ash got up from the ground, his clothes dusty and filthy.

"What happened? Are you okay, Ash?" Serena said worriedly. Misty was quick to notice her tone of voice and looked curiously at her new friend. She decided to ask her about this, instead of Ash, knowing that she might have to spell out everything just to make him understand.

Ash was still getting his bearings so he didn't answer. As Misty and Serena helped him, Clemont turned towards his sister and asked, "What happened?"

Bonnie turned towards him and replied, "A whole herd of Tauros came stampeding out of nowhere just as Ash jumped over the fence. They trampled him in the ground."

Hearing her reply, Serena once again asked Ash if he was fine. By this time, Ash was almost back to normal. "Yeah, I am always fine, don't you see?"

Serena couldn't help but chuckle. Clemont looked disbelievingly at him. Misty had watched the small exchange between the two with a sly smile. _She just cares about him so much. She's a keeper._

The same thought was going through Bonnie's mind as she once again looked at Misty. She went at once to her, got down on her knee and said, "You're a keeper! Please take care of my brother!"

Misty looked surprised at her proposal while Clemont had gone red. He activated his Aipom arm immediately and picked up his sister. He ran away with Bonnie dangling by his mechanical device, yelling, "This is so embarrassing!"

Serena and Ash laughed at them as well as at Misty's expression. As he was laughing, Ash said, "I forgot to tell you, Misty that Bonnie wants to find a wife for his brother and she keeps on asking every girl we come across. You were no exception."

Misty started chuckling as he and Serena related a few instances like that. Bonnie would certainly be a nice sister to have – if she wouldn't keep on doing such embarrassing things. In a few minutes, the two siblings came back. As soon as they reached them, Misty said, "Why don't we first meet Professor Oak? You can see your pokémon after that, Ash."

Agreeing with her, everyone headed towards the building on the rise, located east of them. They soon reached the place – or facility as Clemont preferred to call it – and Ash opened the door.

"CONGRATULATIONS, ASH!"

Ash was deafened as everyone yelled at the top of their voices, even Misty. He and his recent companions closed their eyes at the loud noise. As they opened their eyes, their jaws dropped at the number of people present. For Ash, it was a number of _familiar_ people present. All the people came and pulled all of them inside, closing the door behind them. Everyone shook hands with Ash, congratulating him.

 _If this keeps on going on,_ Ash thought, as another person came to shake his hand, _my hands will probably drop down separate from my body._

After all the handshakes, Ash was choked by his mother who was hugging him ecstatically. She let him go soon as Ash started breathing hard. _What's with people constantly strangling me? Do they want me to die?_

The Kalosians were standing aside, not knowing what to do. The only people they knew were Ash and Misty. They didn't know what to do at the huge celebration that was apparently set up to congratulate Ash. Pikachu had already mingled with the whole crowd evidently knowing every person present.

Iris suddenly noticed the three standing aside and went at once up to them, wanting to familiarize the new faces. Axew seemed to have sensed her thoughts, for he too came out of her hair and sat on her shoulder looking at the new faces curiously. Bonnie noticed the dragon pokémon at once and ran up to Iris, saying, "That's such a cute pokémon."

Everyone turned to them as they heard her exclaim. Bonnie, not noticing the interested stares she had attracted towards herself, lifted Axew suddenly and hugged him tight – too tight for Axew's liking. He felt his breathing getting cut off as he looked at his trainer with a look that said 'Please set me free from this tyrant'.

"Uh… Listen kid, you are hugging Axew too tightly." Iris said, gaining Bonnie's attention. Bonnie let the pokémon go immediately as Axew started breathing heavily. Bonnie apologized to him. In the meantime, Dedenne had come out of its satchel to see what the commotion was all about. Iris noticed the pokémon at once as she squealed excitedly to the surprise of Bonnie and Dedenne.

"You are so cute!" She exclaimed as she suddenly hugged the small electric/fairy-type pokémon. She then looked at it again, before starting to rub her cheek against Dedenne's. Bonnie knowing at once what was about to happen spoke up anxiously.

"Don't do that! You will get…"

"AAAAHHHHHH…!"

"…shocked."

While everyone was staring at Dedenne curiously amazed at the amount of electricity it stored, Iris's hair had all stood up on its end. She herself was covered with soot as she coughed out some smoke. "Wow! I didn't expect that much electricity in such a small pokémon."

Dedenne had already gone to Bonnie and was sitting on her head, nervous because of the stares it was receiving. Meanwhile, Max was staring at her hard, apparently knowing that she was the girl he had called cute when he had seen her on TV. _She looks even cuter in real life. Wait! Why did I think like that again?_

Ash walked towards his Kalos companions as he said to the rest of the crowd, "They are my friends with whom I travelled in Kalos. This is Bonnie…"

"And this is Dedenne." Bonnie interrupted, pointing towards the pokémon on her head. Ash continued.

"This is Clemont."

"Nice to meet you, all." Clemont said, with a formal bow. May giggled at his geeky look. He certainly looked an interesting fellow to get to know about – as nerdy as her brother.

"And this is Serena." Serena gave them a bright smile. The others couldn't help liking the three new faces. There was something about them that was quite likeable. The others returned their grins cheerfully. Just as Serena made eye-contact with Ash's mother, her smile faded slightly. It wasn't quite noticeable, but Delia seemed to have read her mind, for she smiled broadly. Serena felt slightly less nervous due to that.

"Yeah, your girlfriend." Misty, who was nearest Serena, whispered in a low voice. Only Serena was able to hear her. She blushed due to being called Ash's girlfriend. It did not seem possible to her at all that it could ever happen. She tried to regain her composure, trying to forget what she heard just now.

"And of course you know me. I'm Misty." Misty said out loud, with a grin. Starting with her, everyone introduced themselves. After the introductions, they started to get to know each other, for everyone had come from different regions, just to congratulate Ash.

While everyone was busy, Paul approached Ash with a surly expression on his face. Ash must have sensed him, for he turned towards him at once. For a moment, it looked like Paul was about to snap at him. Instead, he smirked as he took out a pokéball and held it in front of Ash's face. "I want my revenge."

Ash knew what he was talking about. He returned his smirk with one of his own and accepted the challenge. "Sure."

Bonnie was standing right behind them, getting to know Dawn and Piplup. She heard what was exchanged between the two trainers and turned towards them. As she looked at the pokéball in Paul's hand, she remembered something. She went near Ash and pulled his sleeve. "Hey Ash, what about your promise to show me your pokémon?"

Ash turned to her as he replied, "Sure, let's go now!"

Max heard them as he ran towards Ash and said excitedly, "Ash, you haven't forgot your promise to battle me, have you? And I want to see your Kalos pokémon."

Ash shook his head as he said, "I haven't forgotten my promise at all, Max. We will battle once I introduce my pokémon to each other."

"Check this out." Max said, opening his pokéball. He hadn't yet told Ash about his Treecko evolving. "Treecko has already evolved into Grovyle."

"That's awesome." Ash said, as he stared at Grovyle hard. Bonnie seemed fascinated by the grass-type pokémon as she was staring equally hard. Grovyle got uneasy as the two kept on staring. Paul had already walked away, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to battle any time soon.

"Don't worry Grovyle." Max said to him as his uneasiness increased. "That's the friend I had travelled with and I had told you so much about. That's Ash Ketchum."

Hearing the name, Grovyle's uneasiness seemed to disappear as he looked back at Ash intently. So, this was the trainer whose Sceptile was teaching him so many tricks, huh?

"Your pokémon is so cute." Bonnie told Max. Max sighed at her as he heard that. "Not every pokémon is cute. Why do you keep on calling all of them cute? Have you gone mad?"

"Hey, I just said that because it is true." Bonnie said, huffing at him.

"You are such a baby! You would call even the 'not-so-cute' ones to be cute. I bet you wouldn't be able to take care of even the smallest pokémon that lives in your region."

"You are wrong, for I certainly can and I have been taking care of my brother's Dedenne for him. See!" She retorted back as she shoved her satchel in Max's face. Dedenne suddenly popped out and ran towards its mistress and sat on her head. "Isn't that right, Dedenne?"

"Nene!"

Everyone had stopped talking to look at the interesting looking quarrel between the two kids. Max was about to retort back when May appeared out of nowhere and hit him on his head with a fist. "How many times have I told you to shut up your big mouth?"

Bonnie pointedly started laughing at Max, before turning towards May and proposing to her, "Will you please take care of my brother?"

While the other people looked at her in astonishment, Clemont who had gone red, once again activated his Aipom Arm, saying, "Bonnie, I have told you a million times not to do that! This is so embarrassing!"

May had gone slightly red as well though it didn't show like Clemont. As she saw the inventor activating his device, she forgot about the young girl's proposal. Instead, she got intrigued by the mechanical device. "That was really amazing. What was that?"

"Huh?" Clemont looked at her surprised. _It seem like she has already forgotten about Bonnie's proposal. Thank goodness for that._

While Clemont sighed internally and started explaining May about his being an inventor, Misty, Ash and Serena were explaining the others about Bonnie's quest to find a wife. The others were chuckling at her not-so-innocent innocence, while Max was staring at her again. His mother, Caroline noticed it and whispered in his ear, "She would make a good wife for you, won't she?"

"What?!" Max exclaimed blushing hard. "Mom, it's nothing like that!"

"Sure, it isn't." His mother said plainly before returning to her conversations with the others. Max sighed relieved.

"Why are you sighing?" Bonnie's voice scared Max, as he suddenly jumped aside. Apparently, Clemont was done explaining the mechanisms and had let his sister go. Bonnie asked the same question again.

"Nothing, Nothing!" Max exclaimed, shaking his hands in front of her. Bonnie was about to ask him again, when Ash's voice pierced throughout the room.

"Hey everyone! Do you want to meet all of my pokémon?" A chorus of confirmations followed as Bonnie ran towards where Ash was standing, closely followed by the others. Max sighed once again, relieved that he was spared from any embarrassment and followed the others. _What the heck is wrong with me?_

Everyone came out to see Ash saying something to his Bulbasaur. The grass-type pokémon nodded at whatever his trainer told him and ran out into the middle of the field. Everyone looked curiously at him.

Bulbasaur stopped there and pointed the plant bulb on his back to the sun. He started absorbing the sunlight and energy.

"What's that pokémon doing?" Bonnie asked Ash.

"Just see," was Ash's reply.

After having absorbed enough energy, Bulbasaur straightened himself and aimed above him. He launched a small orb of energy in the sky, which on reaching enough height, burst into millions of colors.

"That's so beautiful." All girls were looking at it, the small explosion of colors seemingly having captivated their attention. They would have probably stared at it forever but they were rudely disturbed by a rumbling noise. Everyone turned to see many different pokémon running towards Ash with the herd of Tauros being in the lead. Seeing all the Tauros, they knew they were all Ash's pokémon.

For a moment, Ash didn't move at all, thinking that his pokémon will stop near him. But as the pokémon didn't reduce their speed at all, he realized they were about to trample him.

"Wait, Wait!" Ash said, waving his hands in front of him. The noise was too much, though, for the pokémon to hear. They kept on running towards him. Ash jumped out of their way just as they reached him. While the other pokémon stopped at once near their trainer, the Tauros continued with their stampeding.

As soon as Ash got up, his pokémon started greeting him in various ways. His Glalie froze him completely. Bulbasaur used razor leaf to cut through the ice. As the ice finally broke, Ash clutched his shoulders and started rubbing himself. "Nice to see you again, Glalie."

"Glalie!"

Just as Ash was feeling warm again, Gliscor appeared out of nowhere and landed directly on Ash's face. Ash fell down again while his other companions shook their heads at them. The Kalosians were looking at everything in shock. Were they really his pokémon? They hadn't really seen any pokémon greet their trainer in such a strange way.

"Hey Gliscor! How have you been?"

"Gliscor!"

Ash suddenly felt being crushed by an enormous yet familiarly slimy weight. "Muk Muk!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know you like me, Muk."

Before Muk could smother his trainer completely, Bayleef tackled him aside and started cuddling to its trainer. "Bayleef!"

"Hey, Bayleef! How have you been?"

"Bayleef!"

Bonnie, not happy with Ash getting all the attention, ran towards the two, saying, "Hey, I want a hug too!"

Bayleef, hearing her, went up to her and started cuddling to her with its head. Bonnie cuddled back and started giggling. "You're so cute!"

Muk, also wanting to be called cute, went up to her. Bayleef stood aside, as Bonnie went up to the other 'cute' pokémon and hugged him. Muk hugged her back happily, thinking here was a human who hugged him back willingly.

"Bulba Bulba!" Everyone turned towards Bulbasaur, only to see a bug like pokémon sucking the sap from the bulb on his back. Bulbasaur used a light vine whip and pushed the pokémon away. Misty took a step back, slightly afraid of it. She wasn't scared of the Heracross but she still couldn't completely stand it. Dawn looked at her curiously and asked, "What's wrong?"

May had noticed Misty step back as well, as she replied to her question. "Misty is afraid of bug-type pokémon."

"You are still afraid of bug-types, Misty?" The girls turned towards Ash, who had his Gible biting on his head affectionately. "You really need to get over it. Wait a second, I will help you!"

Ash turned to call his Heracross, who was running after Bulbasaur, wanting to suck some more sap. Misty freaked out and said, "Ash Ketchum, if you dared to call any of the disgusting bug-types, I will drown you in the lake in my gym!"

Ash started laughing at her. "You really need to do something about your fear of bug-types, you know?"

"How can you call bug-type pokémon disgusting?" Misty turned towards Bonnie who had spoken. The young girl was holding Ash's Oshawott in her hands, cuddling to him as if he were a plush toy. "They are…"

"…so cute." Max finished, mimicking her. He was standing near them watching Ash's pokémon greet him in their own unique ways. Bonnie glared at him fiercely as he grinned back at her. "That's what you were going to say, isn't that right?"

Bonnie simply huffed and walked away, not bothering to say anything to Max. Everyone chuckled at that.

Iris suddenly remembered that Ash hadn't yet introduced his Kalos pokémon. She turned to him and said, "Ash, aren't you going to introduce us to your new pokémon?"

"Right." Ash replied as he pulled out all his pokéballs and threw them above. All his Kalos pokémon came out, standing beside each other. Everyone except the Kalosians stared at them, fascinated. The pokémon grew uneasy at the number of people and other strange looking pokémon staring at them.

"Don't worry guys." Ash said to his newly-caught friends. "They are all my friends from other regions. You are going to have quite a lot of new friends."

All the others greeted them with smiles – well, everyone except Paul, who was simply staring at them with a neutral expression on his face. The pokémon didn't seem to notice him as they started making friends with the other pokémon. Everyone let all their pokémon out so that they would get to know each other.

Misty was particularly interested in Greninja, bombarding Ash and Clemont with lot of questions. Greninja seemed to like her as well, for he patiently stood as she examined him from all angles. Iris was interested in Noivern, as she borrowed Serena's pokédex for a while to learn more about its dragon typing. The rest, except Professor Oak, weren't so mad about a particular pokémon but were interested in knowing them.

Professor Oak had already endured a few attacks from the frustrated pokémon that he wanted to examine. Delia shook her head at his immaturity that would show when there were new pokémon to study. She had been standing near him, thanking Ash's Kalos pokémon for taking care of him. But now, she had to make sure he didn't do anything stupid that would make some other pokémon attack him.

"Is something bothering you, Clemont?" Ash looked at his new friend curiously. Everyone looked at him to see him looking thoughtful. Bonnie and Max were already gone to check out all the pokémon along with Pikachu. Clemont didn't seem to have heard his question. May, who was nearest him, waved her hand in front of his face, snapping him out of his trance.

"Uh… what?" Clemont asked surprised to see everyone staring at him. He started to flush as he realized that _everyone_ was staring at him.

"What were you thinking so hard about?" May asked.

"Well, you see," Clemont started, "It is Bonnie's ninth birthday day after tomorrow. I was just thinking how to celebrate it and what to gift her then."

"That's great!" Delia exclaimed. Everyone looked at her as she continued, "It won't be only Bonnie's birthday, you know. Ash has his birthday on the same day."

"That's right." Ash said, nodding. "It will be my seventeenth birthday. We can celebrate the day together."

"And we can celebrate your win on that day as well, you know." Misty said. "We didn't know when you would turn up thanks to you forgetting to call us, so we couldn't prepare for it at all."

"That means it would be a triple celebration!" May cheered.

Clemont started smiling at the group's excitement as he said, "Thanks guys, it really means a lot."

"No problem!" Brock said. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"Right."

"How about we give Bonnie a surprise party?" Dawn suggested, getting excited glances. "There is no reason she should know about this, is there?"

"Then that's decided!" Gary said. "We will give Bonnie a surprise party. We would have given you one as well, Ashy-boy, but now we can't."

"Stop calling me with that name."

"Stop fighting, you two." Serena interrupted, shoving her hands in both of their faces. "There is no need to fight like that. Why don't you two help us decide what to do at the party instead?"

"Whatever you say." Gary said, rolling his eyes.

"We can decide that tomorrow. The party is not until after tomorrow." Ash said. Gary headed inside the lab, apparently to continue whatever research he was conducting. The rest headed out towards the field where all the pokémon were playing and training with Bonnie and Max.

 ** _Viridian City, Kanto_**

The trio of Jessie, James and Meowth came out of the store with fresh new clothes on them. The clothes were very similar to their old uniforms except that the colors were different. Jessie's half-sleeved top was yellow in color with blue jeans. James was wearing a blue shirt with sky-blue colored jeans.

"Well, we are finally done with the shopping of the clothes." Jessie said.

"What should we do now?" Meowth asked.

"What _can_ we do now?" James said, emphasizing the word 'can'. "Let's head over to Pallet Town."

"Do you think Ash must have reached there by now?" Jessie asked. _It feels strange calling him Ash after calling him a twerp every time we came across them._

"He must have. I don't think he would waste much time there, after winning the league. He would probably have headed here at once to show his other pokémon his trophy." James replied.

"His pokémon?" Jessie asked, raising an eyebrow. "Don't you think he would have first wanted to show his mother?"

"Did you forget how much he loves pokémon?" Meowth asked sardonically.

"What's wrong with you, Meowth?" James asked. "You were never so sarcastic with us."

"I wish I knew."

Jessie didn't seem affected by his scornful tone. She said, "Let's head to Pallet Town. Even if he isn't there, we can still try to be friends with the others."

The other two nodded and followed her as she took the lead. They started walking towards the small town, taking the same path that the others had taken.

Meanwhile, in the alley beside the store, two people were keeping an eye on them.

"Did you hear what they were talking about?"

"Nope, we are too far away."

"But they seem to be heading towards Pallet Town."

"Isn't that the place where Ketchum lives?"

"Yeah. I wonder why they are heading there. I thought they were enemies."

"Well, how about we follow them? We will know where they are heading."

"And how about we take care of Ketchum while we are on our main job? Boss will surely think highly of us, won't he?"

"We better not take any risk, in case he wants him alive. Now, let's follow them before they are out of sight."

* * *

 **And that finishes the fifth chapter!**

 **I need your help for this, everyone! As you know, the last part was the conversation between the new recruits. I haven't yet thought of any names for them and I would like your help in deciding it. PM me the names that you want them to be called by. I will choose from them. Thanks already!  
**

 **Once again, thank you all for you support and I hope you have a good day. Bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Welcome back!**

 **For all of those who were wondering about the characters' ages, the animé confuses us quite a lot about it (like BW episode 1), so I kept their ages almost same. It would be easy for me to write their dialogues.  
**

 **Now, without wasting too much time, let's head to the next chapter:**

* * *

CHAPTER 6

"Gosh, that was so tiring!" May said, stretching herself as she entered Professor Oak's lab. She was followed by Clemont, who was carrying a sleeping Bonnie. The two were followed by the rest of the people present at the facility.

"Guys, I am taking Bonnie to the bedroom." Clemont said, turning towards his friends. All of them had spent the whole day getting to know each and every pokémon that were present. The Kalos pokémon were the centre of attention most of the time for the people coming from the other regions, while the Kalosians were intrigued by the other region's pokémon and spent the time getting to know them. Ash himself was relating his Kalos adventures to his mother and his pokémon. It was not a surprise that all of them were tired.

"No need to worry, Clemont." Dawn said, reciting her famous line. The whole day was not only used up in knowing the other pokémon but also for making friends with other trainers. All of them had struck a friendship with each other as if they had known each other for years instead of hours.

"Yeah, don't worry. Just tuck her in." Iris said, with a smile. Clemont nodded and took the still-sleeping Bonnie in one of the rooms. While the others had been busy, the Oaks, with the help of Delia, had arranged the rooms to fit everyone who had come. They knew they would stay here for a while, so the unused rooms were finally put to some good use, instead of being used as store rooms.

"I am going to sleep as well." Max said, yawning widely. His yawn set others off as the whole room was filled with echoes of the yawns.

"Now go to sleep, everyone." Norman said. "You are too tired and if you don't go to sleep right now, you won't be able to wake up nice and early tomorrow."

"But Dad, there is no reason for us to wake up early. I think I am going to sleep the whole day tomorrow – I feel so tired." May whined as she gave another big yawn.

"You better wake up early tomorrow, for your mother and I are heading back to Petalburg then." Norman said, getting slightly sad looks from both May and Max.

"But why are you going so soon?" Max asked.

"Your father has left the gym alone, Max. We can't leave the gym like that forever or we might stop getting challengers." Caroline said. "And you are asking as if we are not going to meet each other for years. Cheer up, you two. We will meet soon after you two come back home."

"Thanks Mom." Max said smiling. "Good night everyone!"

"Good night!" The others, except Paul and Alain, chorused.

As soon as Max went to the boys' room, Alain and Mairin headed towards the door. The others looked surprised as Brock asked, "Where are you two heading now?"

"To continue with my research," Alain replied back shortly. The others looked questioningly at Mairin who said, "Travelling with Alain has got me really interested in Mega Evolution and I don't want to miss any of his research. So I am going with him as well."

"Do you understand all that Alain does?" Ash asked, astonished at the girl's decision. Mairin nodded.

"You really need to learn something from her, Ash." Iris said. "I think she's more mature than you are."

"Just because she's helping with Alain's research doesn't mean that she's more mature than I am. I think _you_ are really the one who needs to learn something."

"Shut up, you two!" Cilan interrupted, knowing Iris would retort at Ash. "You guys are too tired to think straight. Why don't you just go to sleep?"

Just as he mentioned sleep, both Ash and Iris gave loud yawns. Iris said, "I guess you're right, Cilan. I really need to sleep. Good night everyone."

"Good night."

"Do wish Bonnie happy birthday from the two of us." Mairin said, attracting everyone's attention. Serena nodded and replied, "Don't worry, we will."

"Thanks. Bye!" Mairin said, waving at them as she followed Alain who had already walked off. Everyone waved back, as Dawn yawned this time.

"We must really be tired. Just look how many times we have yawned in the past few minutes!" Serena said. The others agreed with her, as they headed into their respective rooms.

In a few minutes, all the lights were out, as everyone snuggled into their blankets, all set to spend the cold night. The boys' room was already filled with loud snores of Ash and Max. The other boys wouldn't have been able to sleep had they not been this tired. All of them were out cold so they didn't notice the change in temperature as the night set in.

Meanwhile, in the girls' room, even though pleasantly tired, Serena couldn't sleep. She tried hard but there were too many thoughts in her head for her to sleep peacefully. She couldn't help but think how nice Ash's mom was to her. She was quite sure that she had seen a playful look in her eyes once in a while, whenever they made eye-contact and she had quite a good idea what the older woman was thinking. Serena sighed audibly, just thinking about it.

"Are you still awake, Serena?" Misty's voice pierced through the darkness. Although she had only whispered, it sounded quite loud in the silence of the night.

"Yeah, I can't sleep."

"Me neither."

"Can you two just shut up for a while? I am trying to sleep here." Dawn's fierce whisper was heard as the silence was shattered once again. Bonnie and Iris were in too deep a sleep to hear all the whispers around them. May had just gone to sleep when she was rudely awakened by another whisper.

"So, you are awake as well, huh?" It was Misty's voice.

"What's going on, Misty? Why did you wake me up?" May asked groggily. She asked it in a small voice, so that only the girls, who were awake, could hear her.

"Oh, we're so sorry, May." Serena whispered apologetically. The other two voiced their apologies as well.

"No worries about that!" May whispered, surprisingly cheerfully. "But now I don't think I will be able to go to sleep any time soon."

"Well, there you go, Misty," Dawn whispered, somewhat louder. "You woke up May for no reason. Now, I really doubt if she would be able to get up early in the morning."

"Don't start a fight." Serena whispered frantically. "We might wake up Ash or the others."

It was strange, the other girls thought, how Ash was the first person's name that came out of Serena. She could have said Clemont, Brock or any of the others, but she chose Ash. It was really strange. Letting that thought slip out of her mind as another related thought came to her, May asked, "Why did you hug Ash, Serena?"

Her question made Serena blush crimson, though it couldn't be seen due to the darkness of the night. The others grinned to themselves, having an idea of how embarrassed she must be feeling.

 _Everyone must have seen the league. Gosh, I feel so embarrassed! How I wish the ground would open up and swallow me!_ Serena thought. "I didn't hug him, May! I really didn't. I just tripped on my foot and ran into him."

Dawn thought of her explanation. It was really possible that the hug had been accidental and that they were making a big deal of it. She decided to take a shot in the dark as she asked, "But isn't it too much of a coincidence that you are infatuated with him?"

"I am not infatuated! It's just a crush…"

"Busted!"

"Wait, you mean you didn't know about this?"

"Nope. I just took a shot in the dark. You fell into my trap at once." Dawn said, stifling her giggles.

"Ohhh, I hate you!" Serena said, pouting as she turned away from the girl.

"So," May's voice came through, "How did this happen? How did you develop a crush on him?"

"Well, it happened like this…" Serena started and told the girls about her small encounter with Ash when they were young.

"Sounds quite cute." Misty said as Serena finished relating the small incident. "But really? You developed a crush just because he helped you out? That can't be the only reason."

"Well, it wasn't the only reason. I guess I just developed a bond with him then, which strengthened as we travelled through Kalos."

"I guess." Misty said.

"I bet," This time it was Dawn, "you must have given quite a lot of hints to him and that he had noticed none of them."

"You're quite right," Serena's voice was followed by a heavy sigh. "Although, there were times when it seemed like he was noticing me."

"Like?" May asked.

"Like suddenly complimenting me on my dress when I would least expect it, or calling only my name even when Pikachu would also be in trouble with Team Rocket. Small things like that." Serena said, somewhat dreamily. Her dreamy tone did not go unnoticed by the others as they grinned to themselves.

"So," May started, "when are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know. Even when I just think about telling him, I just keep on stuttering and then I change the topic completely."

"Well, you better do it fast. He isn't going to wait for you forever."

"I know that. I feel as if everyone has been giving me the same advice, over and over again."

"Just how many people know about this?" Misty asked curiously, directing her question towards the Kalosian.

"Miette and Shauna – my rivals, my mother and Bonnie." Serena replied, though she sounded sleepy now.

"So Bonnie knows, huh?" Dawn asked, as she glanced towards the sleeping girl.

"Yeah," Serena's affirmation was followed by a yawn as she turned upright again and said, "Good night girls. I am feeling really sleepy."

The other three girls wished her good night as she closed her eyes. In a few minutes, light snores could be heard coming from her. Hearing the snores, Misty started feeling sleepy. Just as she snuggled back into her blanket, May spoke, "Are you awake, Misty? Dawn?"

"What is it, May?" Dawn's sleepy voice replied.

"I was just wondering if we should help Serena with her crush on Ash."

"You can keep on wondering for the rest of the night, May." Misty replied sleepily, turning into a more comfortable position. "I and Dawn are too tired to think about this now. Good night."

"Good night." The other two girls wished her back, as they themselves snuggled into their blankets. Silence overtook the reign as everyone drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Dawn woke up suddenly as she felt something hit her. Just as she opened her eye, she saw what had been - and still was - hitting her. May stood in front of her with her pillow in her hands. "Wake up, Dawn. Do you want to sleep for the rest of the morning?"

Dawn turned around her to see Serena and Misty just being woken up by Iris and Bonnie. She gave another yawn. "What time is it?"

"It's almost nine." Hearing the time, the three woolly-headed girls' eyes widened as they scrambled up from their beds and rushed to the bathroom. Misty and Dawn reached the door together and they started fighting on who would use the bathroom first.

"I will go first, Misty. You can go later."

"No way, Dawn! You will just waste our time, doing your hair. You can go last and do your hair to your heart's content."

The other three waiting girls shook their heads at them. No one would think they were almost adults by their behavior. Serena looked at the door, which was wide open for her to go and then looked back at the bickering pair. She shrugged her shoulders and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Misty and Dawn snapped out of their fight as they heard the door being closed. They saw Serena enter and sighed. Maybe, they shouldn't have fought or they might have been the first one to use the bathroom.

"See what happens when you fight for trivial things?" May asked, as the two girls looked at her. They looked at each other and apologized. Iris looked at the two and shook her head, "What kids!"

In half an hour, all the girls were ready and they rushed to the dining room to see Ash and Max devouring the food while Brock and Clemont were shaking their heads. Cilan was nowhere to be seen. Ash and Max both were in their night-dresses. Max seemed to have heard the girls coming down, for he looked up from his meal with a smirk. "So you girls finally decided to wake up, huh?"

The girls, who had overslept, scratched the back of their heads. Maybe, they should have slept, instead of whispering that night.

"No need to smirk, Max. You, too, woke up just a few minutes ago." May said, silencing her brother for a while. Bonnie gave a low chuckle looking at him. The remaining people sat down for breakfast as May served them.

"Where's Delia?" Misty said, looking around.

"Shopping," Iris said, shortly.

"I am done." Ash said, getting up. May looked at him incredulously. "So soon?"

Ash didn't hear her question for he was already on his way out, saying, "I am going to train, guys."

Iris shook her head at him as she said, "What a kid! Sometimes, I think even Bonnie is more mature than he is."

"Hey Ash, wait for me!" Max said, following Ash to the field. Bonnie wanting to see their training, ran after them as well. All the girls shook their head at their childishness.

"So, what kind of shopping?" Dawn asked, directing her question to her fellow coordinator.

"Decorations for Bonnie's birthday," May replied. "I was wondering what I should gift her. Serena, you have travelled with her, so you could tell us what she likes."

"For starters, Bonnie absolutely adores pokémon or anything related to them," Serena said, arching her eyebrows thoughtfully. "Then she's quite into fashion. I remember us participating in Valerie's fashion show."

"Hold on!" Iris said, interrupting Serena, "does that mean you are a model?"

"Oh no, Valerie was short of two models and asked Bonnie and me to join in their place. That was real fun." Serena replied, with a chuckle.

"And I am guessing," Misty said, as everyone turned towards her, "Bonnie must have asked her to take care of her brother."

"Yeah, she did all right. You should have seen Valerie's confusion then."

"I suppose you enjoyed cat-walking then, huh?" May asked, smirking.

"I wouldn't say I full on enjoyed it," Serena said, sweat-dropping at her knowing smirk, "I just became too self-conscious."

"The reason being Ash," Dawn said, giving her a devilish smirk, "isn't that right?"

"No, it isn't like that." Serena said uncomfortably, looking down towards her meal. The other two thought she looked funny whenever she was uncomfortable – and May and Dawn weren't letting go of any chance they got to do it. They decided to let her eat, for they were hungry as well. Just as they finished breakfast, the front door opened and Delia entered the house.

"Are you girls done?" The older woman asked as she entered the kitchen.

"All done," The girls replied back in unison, before looking at each other and smiling. Delia smiled back and then looked around, seemingly searching for someone. "Where's Ash? Is he still sleeping?"

"He's gone to train." Serena replied, pointing with her thumb towards the door. Delia shook her head. _Does he always need to train? He could spend some time with us._

"If you don't mind, Delia, we would like to go help Ash train." Iris said. Delia nodded at them and smiled. They smiled back and waved at her as they left the house and ran towards the field.

The girls reached there and saw Cilan and Clemont battling with each other with Brock as their referee. Ash and Max were training a few meters away from them, with Bonnie standing in between, able to look at both the battle and the training. She was cheering them all.

The girls joined her as they looked at the battle going on between Clemont and Cilan. While Cilan was using his trusty partner, Pansage, Clemont was battling him with his Luxray. Clemont's Chespin – as Iris realized – had the same problem with being in his pokéball like Ash's Oshawott. The Chespin was standing beside his trainer, cheering for all he was worth.

It looked like Clemont was winning with the damages visible on both the pokémon. Luxray didn't look as damaged as Pansage did. Misty and Iris watched the battle with more enthusiasm than the other three.

"Pansage, use dig."

"Luxray, start running and don't let him know where you are."

Cilan smirked. _It won't be as easy to confuse Pansage as you think it is, Clemont._

"Now!" Just as Luxray reached near the centre of the battlefield, Pansage shot out and hit him squarely in his stomach. The wind was knocked out of him as he tried to regain his breath. Cilan, not giving any chance for the electric pokémon to retaliate, ordered at once, "Use Solar Beam."

The grass-type pokémon shot out a bright beam which hit Luxray and knocked him out. Pansage started panting hard as Brock declared Cilan the winner.

"That was a great battle, Clemont."

"Yeah, thanks." Clemont said as he returned his electric-type pokémon to his pokéball. "I suppose I forgot that Luxray's heavy footsteps could easily be heard in the ground when I asked Luxray to dodge your dig."

Brock nodded at him as he turned to see the girls staring at them. He waved at them and shouted, "Hey girls! Do you want to battle?"

Misty and Iris both nodded and ran towards the boys to battle them. The remaining three girls looked at their retreating figures as a thought occurred to Dawn. "Hey Serena, didn't you tell us you wanted to be the best Pokémon Peformer? How about you show me and May one of your free performances that you were talking about yesterday? Maybe, we could use a few of those things in the appeal rounds of our contests."

"Sure." Serena complied and the three went far enough away from the others so that Serena could have enough space to perform. Serena threw her pokéballs up in the air and her Braixen, Pancham and Eevee came out. The Eevee was certainly a very shy one when she was first caught but she had managed to get over her fear of strangers by the end of their journey. Now she had become quite outgoing.

Seeing the Eevee, another thought occurred to May as she attracted Serena's attention and asked, "Have you thought about what you want to evolve Eevee into?"

Serena looked at the pokémon thoughtfully as she said, "I haven't yet decided. I am certainly interested in Glaceon but I don't want to force Eevee to evolve into something she doesn't want to."

 _Another trait that is common with Ash! Ash would certainly have let Eevee evolve into whatever she wanted to instead of forcing her to become a particular one._ Dawn thought. Aloud she said, "You seem to like fairy-types as well, don't you?"

"Well yeah, I certainly like them and Eevee has a fairy-type evolution in Sylveon but I am still not sure." Serena sighed.

"Don't think too much about it, Serena. Eevee herself will decide when to evolve. Why don't you show us your performance?" May said.

Serena nodded and proceeded to show them her very first performance, when she had won her first showcase in Dendemille Town. The whole performance had the two coordinators captivated throughout. As Serena finished, they started clapping wildly. Serena scratched her cheek as she felt somewhat embarrassed.

"That was amazing, Serena." May said, looking stunned.

"Oh my gosh, I could have used many of the combinations and easily skimmed through the appeals rounds." Dawn said, apparently loving her small performance.

"Thanks, I guess." Serena said as she sweat-dropped at their reaction. She knew there were many better performers than her and that hers was a very modest one.

"Hey, Serena, wasn't that your performance in Dendemille Town?" The girls turned to see Bonnie standing behind May and Dawn. Serena nodded as Bonnie came up to her. She turned towards May and Dawn and asked, "Isn't she the best performer?"

The two girls agreed heartily as she continued, "She's going to be the Kalos Queen and then she's going to marry a Pokémon Master."

"BONNIE!" Serena said, thoroughly embarrassed, as she clamped a hand on the kid's mouth. May and Dawn were struggling to control their mirth at Serena's reaction. They couldn't help but think how Clemont even managed to keep an eye on her if she was this outgoing and daring.

"What's this I hear about a Pokémon Master?" Ash's voice came up to them as they turned to see him walking towards them, looking extremely sweaty. Apparently, he had just finished his training. He looked towards Serena who was still holding a hand on Bonnie's mouth and looked confused. "Why are you holding your hand on her mouth, Serena? Is something wrong?"

Serena didn't know how to reply his question but she was saved from answering them as Misty's voice was heard. "Ash, your mom is saying lunch is ready. Tell everyone to come, would you? And one more thing, do wash yourselves before joining us. You look absolutely dirty, covered with sweat."

Ash sighed, just as a growl was heard. He rubbed a hand on his stomach, embarrassed. May and Dawn sighed, shaking their heads, as they said in unison, "Some things never change."

"Heh heh." Ash said, scratching the back of his head.

May and Dawn got up as May said, "Let's go. I don't want to miss any lunch."

The two girls followed Ash to his home, leaving Bonnie and Serena behind. Serena had let go of Bonnie while Misty had been calling them. Serena turned towards Bonnie and said fiercely, "You better not do that again, Bonnie. I certainly don't want to end up in any kind of trouble."

Seeing Bonnie's shocked expression, she sighed and continued in a softer and calmer voice, "I am really sorry for yelling at you, Bonnie. But you should know when to keep your mouth shut and when to say the right things. Why don't you go play with Max, instead of forcing me into telling him?"

Bonnie looked rueful as she apologized as well. "All right, I won't try and make you do anything that you don't want to, but you better know you don't have much time, because you are not going to live here forever."

As Bonnie turned towards Ash's house, Serena looked thoughtful, contemplating the younger girl's words. _She's right. I can't really stay here forever, waiting for Ash to confess to me – that is if he has even fallen for me. Either I make a move or be brave enough to see Ash dating some other girl._

"Serena!" Dawn's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, as she looked at the blue-haired coordinator beckoning her over. She waved back and sighed.

"Braixen."

"Yeah Braixen, I am okay."

"Pancham cham pancham."

"Don't worry guys. I am really okay. Now, let's go and eat some lunch." This was said in a cheerful voice, which cheered the pokémon up. Serena returned her pokémon to their pokéballs and ran towards where Dawn was still standing, waiting for her. "I am sorry for making you wait. I was just telling my pokémon a few tricks that we were going to practice."

Serena didn't feel good about lying to her friends but she couldn't tell them the truth either, without being questioned by the others. She would wait for the night to tell them the truth. Dawn seemed to have believed her, for she nodded and said with a smile, "No need to worry. I am just glad you're earlier here than Ash. At least, you wouldn't have to spend the time until dinner, hungry."

Serena shook her head internally as she entered and sat down at the dining table, where the others were already sitting. _It seems like Ash's stomach is the reason everyone eats so fast – in fear that he would eat their lunch as well. But I don't remember anything like that even remotely happening while we were travelling through Kalos. Did Ash really use to eat their food as well? Who knows?_

Suddenly, she recoiled back as she noticed a hand waving in front of her. "Hello."

It was Iris, waving her hand. "Are you okay?"

Serena looked around and saw everyone staring at them, perplexed. She went slightly red as she shook her head and said, "Sorry, I guess I just stared off into space."

The others looked confused but shrugged their shoulders and returned to their meal. In a minute, Ash was down with them looking clean and fresh. As usual, he started gobbling down his lunch and was done with it in a few minutes, while the others were still halfway through their second servings.

"All right mom, I am going to sleep." Ash said as he yawned and walked up the stairs to his room. The others shook their heads at his table manners – _that is if he had them._ Misty thought.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in seeing May and Dawn trying out different combinations with their pokémon with the help of Serena and her partners. By the time, they were able to perfect their own different combinations with a few twists, it was already late afternoon and their pokémon were completely worn out due to their training.

As everyone let their pokémon rest, May turned towards Dawn and whispered, "What about Bonnie's surprise birthday party? When are we going to purchase gifts for her?"

"Hey, that's right! I almost forgot." Dawn said, as she stuck her tongue out stupidly and scratched the back of her head. May shook her head at her friend's forgetfulness. Soon, everyone seemed to have the same thought as whispers could be heard about the topic, as everyone looked at Bonnie, who was playing with all of their partner pokémon.

Bonnie must have sensed their stares, for she looked up at once, returning their stares questioningly. "Why are you all staring at me like that? Is there something wrong?"

Brock decided that if they waited any longer, there wouldn't be much time left for _all_ of them to go and purchase gifts for her which are different from each other. "There is nothing wrong, Bonnie. I was just thinking to head out to Viridian City to get some groceries that we would need."

"But not every one of you needs to go."

"I know that, but I will need other's help for we are going to purchase quite a lot of things."

"Do you really mean to say you will need almost all the people?"

"Not all; Ash's mother and Professor Oak are going to stay here."

"Well then, how about I come with you? There is nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"Well…" Brock racked his brains to think of a reason for Bonnie to not come with them. They really wanted to keep it a surprise so that she remembers them all on her every birthday, even if they can't come to personally meet her. The girl had really become a part of their family in very less time and they wanted to give her a blast without her knowing.

He couldn't think of any reason and was about to relent when Ash suddenly spoke. "Well Bonnie, it would be better if you don't go with them because I want to teach you how to take care of certain pokémon that usually hate any kind of human interaction with them. Like there's my Sceptile who didn't trust humans – he still doesn't completely, mind you – but I think it would be useful for you once you start your own journey. And I think you are really excited, aren't you? Also, you will be able to take care of all of them in your own way as well."

Bonnie knew what Ash was talking about, for she had tried to make friends with Sceptile. Sceptile had conceded but was still wary when she was around. So the prospect of learning something like that highly excited her. Her excitement was noticeable as she cheered and went out the door, saying, "Let's go, Ash. I want to learn that as soon as possible."

Ash sighed as he looked back at others. He gave them a smile and said in a low voice, "Don't worry about me. I will think of something to gift her as I teach her whatever I know."

The others gave him grateful smiles. As Brock was about to thank him, Bonnie's voice was heard, "Ash, come on. The others can go run their errands while you teach me."

Ash gave them another grin and ran out the door and towards Bonnie who was standing near Sceptile. The others took their chance and ran out the door, telling Delia where they were heading. In a few minutes, they were on the road that headed towards the Viridian City.

"Who would have thought? Ash seems to have actually matured while he travelled through Kalos." Iris said, thoughtfully.

"You can say that again." Misty agreed with her.

May, who was walking between Misty and Serena, suddenly smirked and elbowed the honey-blonde girl beside her as she said, "And I think we all know who had that effect on Ash."

Serena blushed while the boys looked confused. It took him a moment but Brock suddenly realized what all that was about. Puzzled by May's statement, Clemont asked, "Just what do you mean by that, May?"

The girls, except Serena, looked at him incredulously, wondering how he didn't know after travelling with the girl for so long. They looked at Serena questioningly. She shook her head back at them, indicating Clemont didn't know.

"He's just as dense as Ash." She whispered into May's ear.

"I see." May murmured back.

"What are you whispering?" Clemont asked suspiciously.

"Oh nothing, really," May said, shaking her hands and looking innocent. Clemont looked doubtful but turned his attention back on the route. Serena sighed heavily. They were halfway through their path, when they saw a familiar trio walking towards them. The trio seemed too busy talking with each other to notice the huge group in front of them.

"Well then," the group heard Jessie say, "We will have to prove to them."

"Team Rocket!" Brock said.

"What are you doing here?" Cilan asked. The others looked defensively at the trio, their hands near their trusty partners' pokéballs. They had kept them in case they needed them – and this seemed to be the right time.

"Huh?" The three looked at them for a while blankly before suddenly giving friendly grins. "Hello."

"What have you come here for? To steal our pokémon?" Iris asked angrily.

The trio looked slightly hurt for a moment. They glanced at each other before looking back at the group in front of them, shrugging their shoulders, as James opened his mouth. "We don't have any reason to do that again."

Everyone looked surprised at his forthright declaration. They looked at each other doubtfully as May said, "I find it hard to believe. You have always tried to do that even when we used to help you once in a while."

The others murmured their agreements as the trio once again exchanged uncomfortable glances with each other.

"Let's just say," Meowth said, "we aren't a part of Team Rocket anymore."

He spat out the name with hatred as their faces contorted with disgust. The listening audience's jaws dropped on hearing that. The trio not a part of Team Rocket! It was unbelievable!

"How do you think we are going to believe that?" Dawn asked doubtfully, although she felt that they were telling the truth. The trio once again looked at each other and sighed heavily. They knew this was going to happen but they weren't anticipating it to be so soon. James stepped forward and started walking towards them while putting his hand in his pocket to get out his Holo Caster. The others, not knowing what he was pulling out, tightened their holds on their respective pokéballs, ready to throw them in case he tried something.

"Caaaaaaaaaaa!" Everyone's attention snapped towards the forest from where they had heard the scream as James stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening. Brock, his 'pokémon-doctor' senses activated, ran fast towards the direction from where the scream was heard. The others followed him, knowing that there was quite a possibility that a pokémon might be in trouble.

The whole group was followed by the trio of ex-Team Rocket members, with James in the lead. James was frantically running, trying to catch up with the group running in front of him. Jessie and Meowth were surprised at his anxiety. They knew that they were all going to check if a pokémon was in trouble or not, but they didn't understand the reason behind their friend's worry.

"Why are you so worried, James?" Jessie asked as she caught up with her partner.

"Don't you see?" James asked. They shook their heads. James continued, "If I am not wrong, I am pretty sure I know who that pokémon was."

Meanwhile, back at the place that they had left, a pair of people came out of the bushes. They were slightly confused at the group's sudden departure.

"What's wrong with them all?"

"Didn't you hear that scream?"

"I did, but they were all looking like someone had just died."

"I think it was a pokémon screaming." The yellow-haired, yellow-eyed girl said, shaking her curls, completely ignoring the scornful reply that her companion had given her. Her face was etched with worry, as she looked towards the direction the scream had come from.

"Yeah, so? You worry too much, you know? It seemed to me like a scream a pokémon gives when excited in a battle."

"Shut up! It's not my fault I love pokémon. I wouldn't have worked with you if it wasn't for my rotten luck. Now, come on, let's go and check if any pokémon is in danger or not."

"And what? Let them know that we are keeping an eye on them? You must be crazy! Don't worry about your precious pokémon; those guys will see to everything. It would be better if we keep ourselves scarce from them."

The green-haired, green-eyed boy went into the bushes once again as his companion followed. She gave a last fleeting glance towards the direction of the scream before disappearing in the bushes.

* * *

 **Finally, completed the chapter! So, it seems that our yellow-head loves pokémon - like Ash. And the rotten luck she was talking about? There's more to it than it seems. You'll know what it is about sooner or later.**

 **Anyways, glad you're liking this so much. Thanks everyone for your support!**

 **P.S. I apologize in advance if everyone seems too out of character. I will try to keep them true to the animé as much as possible.**

 **P.P.S. I don't think you should trust my word completely regarding the next updates :P. I already updated twice in October even after telling that I will be updating in November (though I will try to keep to my word).**

 **Have a good day! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**Welcome to the seventh chapter of this fanfic! As much as I would love to individually say this, I really can't so THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR FAVS, FOLLOWS AND REVIEWS! I am really glad you're all liking how this story has been turning out so far and I hope I can make it even better as I write it out for you.  
**

 **So, here you go:**

 **And something that I keep on forgetting: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 7

 ** _Pallet Town, Kanto_**

"Gosh!" Ash exclaimed and sighed, as he dropped down on the sofa in the living room, fanning himself with his hand. _How can Bonnie have that much energy? I feel so tired even when all I did was answer her questions! That girl really needs to put all that energy to some good use._

"What happened? Are you okay, dear?" Delia asked, glancing at her son. Seeing him tired surprised her, because she knew how much he had travelled. All those journeys had given him so much endurance, that there was little chance he would get _so_ tired just because a girl asked him some questions!

Ash looked back at his mother tiredly, as he said, "I am fine, mom! Just tired. I am wondering how Bonnie could be so energetic after almost knocking me out by her never-ending questions! I am really regretting taking this decision."

"Well, in that case," Delia replied, with a twinkle in her eye, "Why don't you go to sleep now and skip the dinner? You can have more breakfast tomorrow."

"No way, mom!" Ash cried out, getting up very suddenly and looking at his mother, aghast. "How can you say that? I am certainly not going to skip any dinner."

He had lost his tired look that he was giving a minute ago. Delia looked at her son and started laughing. "Ash, Ash!"

"This is nothing to laugh at, mom! How can you expect me to skip dinner, of all things?" Ash whined.

"You and your hungry stomach." Delia said, shaking her head. She looked at the clock, which showed that it was near dinner-time. "I wonder how long everyone is taking. They wouldn't be in any trouble, would they?"

"Of course not, mom! They have their partners with them, in case anything happens. Besides, they can take care of themselves." Ash said, showing faith in his friends, as usual.

"I hope they will be fine." Delia said, as she turned towards the kitchen to start preparing dinner. Ash sat back on the sofa and was soon joined by a hungry Bonnie. She held Scraggy in her arms, as she sat beside Ash, waiting for everyone to come back.

 ** _Viridian Forest, Kanto_**

"Use Seed Bomb!" A female voice was heard as Brock ran through the forest. The voice was followed by an exploding noise. "Go pokéball!"

Brock reached a clearing just as a familiar orange-and-black-haired woman threw a pokéball at a Vileplume. The rest caught up with him as he stopped to see if there was any problem.

"Good job, Cacnea." The woman said, looking at the grass-type pokémon beside her.

"Cacnea."

"Gardenia!" Dawn exclaimed in surprise at the sight of the familiar Eterna City Gym Leader. The Gym Leader jerked her head up at her voice as her face split into a wide grin. "Dawn! Brock! I didn't expect to see you two here."

"Cacnea!" Everyone's attention snapped towards James, who looked as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Cacnea's eyes widened at the sight of its trainer.

"Cacnea!" The grass type pokémon cried out as it started running towards him. James copied its action as everyone looked on at the reunion between a trainer and his pokémon.

Cacnea jumped at its trainer's face and enveloped him into a hug – which was painful due to the spikes on its hands. James didn't seem to sense the pain as he hugged back his faithful grass-type partner, tearful at seeing it after such a long time. The others smiled as they looked on at the two hugging. It was always touching to see such a strong bond exist between a trainer and its pokémon even after being away for so long.

"Oh, Cacnea, I am so happy to see you!" James said through his tears, smiling at his pokémon. Cacnea smiled back and hugged him again, like it used to when they were together.

Letting the two remain as they were, Dawn turned towards the female Gym Leader as she asked, "How come you are here, Gardenia? And how are things going at the gym?"

"Everything is great so far; although, it has gotten slightly boring at the gym. I haven't had a challenger like Ash in ages." Gardenia replied, sounding somewhat dejected, as the whole group turned to her. She seemed to have remembered something as she suddenly looked back at them. "I don't see Ash by the way. Where's he?"

"Let's say," Dawn paused, slightly grinning, "He's babysitting."

Gardenia looked astonished as she said, "I find that hard to believe – actually _very_ hard to believe."

"You won't believe," Brock said as she turned towards him, "how matured Ash sounds now, compared to when he was travelling with us."

Misty's, May's and Dawn's jaws dropped as Brock didn't move at all towards the Gym Leader. The rest looked confusedly at their surprised faces as the girls continued to stare at Brock incredulously. They didn't understand why they were so amazed. Brock had only stated a fact, hadn't he? Even Gardenia looked slightly taken aback for a moment.

Brock seemed to have sensed their stares for he turned towards them, looking uncomfortable. "Why are you girls staring at me like that? I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"

"You didn't propose to Gardenia like you normally do to every girl we come across." Misty said, as she started to come out of her shock. "That's what you did wrong!"

"Oh that!" Brock said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I would have done that if I hadn't gone to train for becoming a Doctor. As it was, I continued that stupidity there and got threatened to be thrown out if I didn't stop. Of course, I learned to stop myself and I have even gotten over that."

"I see." Dawn said nodding. May started giggling as she said, "I can just imagine all the girls' faces there when you must have proposed to them. It would have been really hilarious to see you going around proposing to everyone like crazy."

The other two girls started chuckling along with May as she finished. They could imagine it as well. Meanwhile, Brock had gone slightly red as he sweat-dropped. _There was really no need for you to remind me that, May. Oh, how embarrassing that was! I wish I had stopped when Misty used to pull my ear. I wouldn't have needed to face that embarrassing day._

The others still looked curious as Misty and Dawn turned towards them to explain what was going on. They shook their heads as the two girls finished. Cilan patted Brock on his back as he said, "Don't worry, Brock. Things happen and you can't stop them."

Brock simply sighed. James, having finished his happy reunion with his Cacnea, approached Gardenia as he said sincerely, "Thanks, Gardenia, for taking care of Cacnea. I can't thank you enough."

"No need to thank me, James," Gardenia replied back truthfully. "It was really fun training Cacnea. Actually, that was the first time I had trained someone's pokémon for them and I really got quite a lot of experience doing this. Why don't you thank Cacnea, instead?"

She smiled at the two. They returned her smile genuinely. Watching the exchange, the others couldn't help but think that there was quite a possibility that the trio might have changed after all. Gardenia turned towards them as she said, "Well since Ash isn't here, you don't mind congratulating him for me, do you? I saw him win the Kalos League and it would be really helpful if you do that."

"No need to worry!" Dawn said. "We will tell Ash."

"I would have done that myself but I have to catch a flight back home." Gardenia said, sighing.

"So you mean to say," Brock asked, raising an eyebrow at her, "that you came here only to catch a Vileplume?"

Gardenia nodded and said, "I do have an Oddish and a Gloom with me, but they don't want to evolve. So, I decided to catch a Vileplume instead. You know how much I love grass-types, don't you?"

 _Yeah, to the point that you didn't even take Team Rocket seriously._ Dawn thought to herself. She nodded along with Brock. Gardenia looked at her wristwatch and turned to run as she said, "Okay bye guys. I would have really loved to get to know you all but I have a flight to catch. Bye!"

She started running towards the airport as she waved at them. They all waved back as she disappeared.

"Well, that was a false alarm." Brock said, in a low voice. Unfortunately, James heard him as he snapped his head towards him, looking absolutely furious. Controlling himself, he said in an even voice, "That might have been a false alarm for you, Brock, but this is the best thing that could have happened to me. I actually found Cacnea again."

His voice had got a loving tone to itself as he finished his last sentence. He patted Cacnea, who was sitting on his shoulder, on its head happily.

"Well, I didn't mean it that way." Brock said apologetically. He hadn't meant to hurt anyone's feelings when he had said that. He was expecting James to snap back at him for saying that.

"Don't worry about it." James said cheerfully, returning his attention to his pokémon, while he left the others in stunned silence.

 _Well, maybe they have changed after all._ Misty thought as she looked at the happy smiles on both James's and Cacnea's faces.

"So," Clemont said, attracting everyone's attention, "I guess we must go or we will be too late."

The others nodded. Cilan asked, jerking a thumb towards the trio, "But what about them?"

"So what were you going to show us?" Iris asked, giving them a suspicious look.

"This." James replied, as he pulled out his Holo Caster and started the recording of their last call with their boss. The others watched the exchange, intrigued by what they were hearing. They were surprised to learn about Jessie rejecting their boss's proposal. After watching the recording, James put the Holo Caster back as Jessie asked, "Now, do you believe us?"

The others exchanged glances before Serena said hesitantly, "I suppose we could believe you for a while."

The ex-Rocket members sighed as Meowth muttered, "At least, you are willing enough to give us a chance."

"So long as," Misty said, giving the trio a uncertain glance, "you aren't going to stay forever, I guess we could give you a few nights' lodging."

"Really?" Jessie asked, as their eyes widened. "Thank you so much for giving us a chance!"

"Uh… guys, we must really go." May said, glancing at the sky, which had started to darken. "We are late as it is and I don't want to miss any dinner."

The others shook their heads at her reasoning as Dawn asked, "You are really crazy about food, aren't you?"

"Hey, where's Max?" Iris asked suddenly, not noticing the missing kid until now. Her question freaked May out as she looked around searching for her brother.

She was about to yell his name out loud when they heard a tuneful humming coming from the direction of the Viridian City. They looked down the path to see Max walking towards them with a cylindrical container in his hand. The contained had an egg in it. The egg was dark brown on the top and bottom with a zigzag light brown strip in the middle.

"Max, where were you?" May asked, reassured to see him safe. "And where did you get that egg?"

"What are you still doing here?" Max asked the trio crossly, completely ignoring his sister's questions. "I thought you would have been blasted off by now."

"You see, Max," Clemont started, drawing his attention, "they aren't a part of Team Rocket anymore."

Max looked surprised at the revelation as he looked back at them uncertainly. They gave him friendly smiles in an effort to make him believe that that was the truth. For some reason, it seemed to the others that Max had believed them completely, for he returned their smiles.

"Now, do you mind answering my questions?" May asked her brother impatiently.

He looked towards her as he replied, "Don't you remember that I was running ahead of you on the side of the road?" He pointed towards the trio and continued, "They didn't notice me when I ran beside them. So, I didn't bother to try and grab their attention, as you did. I waited for you for a few minutes while you kept talking to them. You just kept on talking so I decided to go ahead thinking you will blast them off."

"And about the egg?" Misty asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, it happened like this…"

* * *

 _Max had just reached Viridian City. He was looking around, wondering where he should go first to check out a present. He knew that his friends would choose something which was somehow related to pokémon – one of the many things Bonnie seemed to adore. He wanted to choose one like that as well but he wanted it to stand out from others' presents._

 _He gazed towards the shopping street thoughtfully as he pondered if he should go there first. He ran towards the shopping avenue, thinking he would decide a gift as he would browse the stores. Reaching the start of the lane, he looked to both his sides wondering where he should start._

 _As he was about to go inside a pokémon costume store, he heard a commotion. He looked behind him and saw a brown-colored egg rolling down the slightly sloping path towards him. Behind the egg was a girl around fourteen-years-old running after it. She had a case in her hand which meant that the egg belonged to her._

 _Max was about to stop the egg from rolling any further when another man caught it. Thinking that the man would return it, Max was about to turn back to his initial task when he heard the girl's shout. "Thief! Catch him!"_

 _The man ran past him as Max sprang into action, throwing Grovyle's pokéball and yelling, "Use Bullet Seed!"_

 _The move hit the man straight on his back. The sudden strike threw him off-balance as the egg was thrown in the air. Max, who had been running behind him as Grovyle used Bullet Seed, ran even faster and dived to catch the thrown egg. He managed to catch the egg just before it hit the ground._

 _"Are you okay?"The girl asked anxiously, as she reached near Max._

 _"Yeah, I'm fine." Max said, getting up and dusting the dirt off his clothes. "Here's your egg."_

 _"Thank you very much." She smiled at him as he returned the smile._

 _"Get off me!" The two heard the thief yell. They turned to see Grovyle sitting on the man's back with his arms folded, looking quite pleased with himself. The man was flailing his hands, trying to get him off himself. The two looked back at each other and stifled their laughs._

 _"Is everything okay?"The two turned to see Officer Jenny walking towards them. Her faithful Growlithe was beside her, looking alert._

 _"Yeah, everything's fine." The girl said. She pointed towards Max and continued, "This young man caught the thief."_

 _Max sweat-dropped at being referred to as the 'young man'. Officer Jenny thanked him for his assistance and handcuffed the thief. She asked them again if anything was wrong, before she left. The two shook their heads as Jenny waved goodbye. They waved back at her._

 _"How am I supposed to find a trainer for you if you keep on running like that away from me?" The girl muttered under her breath, looking towards the egg. She had already put the egg into its container and was holding it tight. Max heard her and a thought occurred to him._

 _"Are you trying to find a trainer for the egg?" He asked the girl eagerly. She looked back at him and nodded as she said, "You see, we own an egg farm. We raise eggs for their trainers if they are not able to take care of it well. The trainers return once their eggs hatch. I found this egg in the forest, near the base of a tree. At first, I didn't think much of it. But even after a few weeks, when no pokémon came near it, I picked it up and took it to our egg farm. Now, after a few days, it is about to hatch and I am trying to find it a trainer so he can take care of it properly."_

 _"I see." Max said, digesting the information and staring at the egg thoughtfully. "You don't mind if I take it, do you?"_

 _The girl looked surprised at his question. "Does this egg belong to you?"_

 _"Huh? No." Max replied, shaking his head. "You told me you wanted to find a trainer for it, didn't you? My friend's birthday is tomorrow and I am trying to find a gift for her. Since she loves pokémon, I was wondering if I could gift it to her. She would probably love it."_

 _The girl looked thoughtful for a while. She nodded at him and said, "In that case, you are the temporary trainer for the egg. Take care of it and thanks."_

 _Max started grinning as he took hold of the egg, knowing he had found the perfect gift for Bonnie. He waved at the girl who had already started running back to her home. "Thanks and goodbye."_

* * *

"…and that is what happened." Max finished.

"I think you really got a perfect gift for Bonnie." Dawn said, as everyone stared at the egg.

"It looks like an Eevee egg." James said, looking at it.

"How can you be sure?" Clemont asked skeptically, looking at the ex-Rocket member. James stared back at him for a while and then sighed.

"You don't understand, do you?" He asked, shaking his head.

"What do you mean by 'I don't understand'?"

"Just look at the egg carefully. Don't you see its color combination? Doesn't it look like an Eevee?"

"You're right." Brock said, looking thoughtfully at it from all angles. "The color combination does match that of an Eevee."

James facepalmed mentally as he said, "Of course, it is like that! Every pokémon's egg has a color combination that matches that of the particular pokémon. For example, a Froakie's egg is blue with white-colored marks on it which are shaped like its paw. Didn't you know that?"

"Uh…" The others didn't know what to say. They never really focused on an egg to notice that its color matched to that of the pokémon inside it. Seeing their amazement, the trio sighed, knowing that they were unaware of that fact.

"You didn't know this, did you?" Jessie asked, shaking her head. "We already knew what pokémon the eggs you had were going to hatch into, just by looking at it. That's why we had tried to steal Noibat's egg; we knew it would evolve into Noivern which is a really strong pokémon."

"Not that we would do it now," Meowth added, seeing everyone's suspicious glances. He was cursing Jessie in his mind to have reminded the group of their ridiculous hunt to catch the group's pokémon.

"Well, guys," Max said, attracting the attention of the whole crowd, "I think you might want to leave now. It is almost six now. You won't get enough time to purchase whatever you want."

"What?!" They all cried out together. They gave the ex-Rocket members a final brief glance before running towards Viridian City, which was only a fifteen-minute walk. Max sighed as he looked at their retreating figures.

"What was all that about?" Meowth asked, perplexed at their sudden departure. The other two looked just as confused. Max told them about Bonnie's birthday as he started walking towards Pallet Town. The trio followed him, not having any idea where to head to for the time being.

In a few minutes, they were at Ash's doorsteps. The trio felt apprehensive as Max brought up his hand to knock on the door. He was about to knock when he paused, thoughtfully looking at the egg he had in his hand. He suddenly turned around and started walking towards Professor Oak's lab. Confused by his actions, Meowth asked, "Uh… Where are you going, Max?"

Max gave him a strange look before answering his question, "Well, I don't want Bonnie to know about her present. I can't keep it here so I am heading to ask Professor Oak for a perfect hiding place for this." He suddenly narrowed his eyes as he continued, "Though make sure not to tell her about this. This is supposed to be a real surprise for her."

"Don't worry, we won't." James said, nodding as Max turned back towards the lab. He felt there was something odd when Meowth had called him. _I wonder why I feel odd about Meowth calling me. Ummmm… Oh yeah, of course that's why! They never called us by our names; always calling us twerps. No wonder it felt so strange when Meowth called me! He actually used my name._

Soon, he reached the facility entrance and entered inside. Hearing the door open, both the Oaks came out of their respective labs, curious about the guest.

"Well Max, what are you doing here so late?" Gary asked, surprised to see him. Max explained about the egg and asked if any one of them knew about where to put it.

"Come inside," Professor Oak motioned to him as he followed the researcher, "I have a special room made to keep pokémon eggs safely."

They passed through the hallway at the end of the room and entered another room. The walls of the room were lined with shelves, containing different eggs, all in containers much like the one Max was holding. Professor Oak reached to the shelf at around Max's height and made some space for his egg. Max placed the egg there as the old professor said, "You might want to label the container in case you couldn't find it."

Acting along his advice, Max stuck a paper with his name on it, on the container. They left the room and walked back to the main room as Max thanked him. Dismissing it with a wave, the professor said goodbye to Max, who was already running out the door towards Ash's home. Max waved back and disappeared in the gathering darkness.

Meanwhile, outside the Ketchum household, the remaining three were wondering what to do next. Jessie looked at the door as she said, "Let's knock at the door. We can't really stand outside all the time, until he comes back."

"I am wondering what to answer them when they open the door." James replied, looking pensive.

"We will think about it at the time." Meowth said as he brought up his paw. He was about to knock on the door when the door opened with a familiar blonde girl looking at them. They stared at each other for a while before withdrawing from the door suddenly.

"Team Rocket! What are you doing here?" Bonnie asked fiercely.

"Nene!" Dedenne sounded just as angry.

"Uhhh…" The three didn't know what to say as they sweat-dropped, staring back at the girl. The sound of running footsteps was heard as Ash and Pikachu appeared at the doorway, looking annoyed. "What do you want this time? Don't tell me you think you are going to catch Pikachu as easily as all that."

"It isn't like that. We haven't come to catch Pikachu." Meowth said, flailing his hands.

"Well then, why are you here?" Ash asked. He sounded somewhat less annoyed and his voice had picked up a curious tone to itself. Pikachu looked confused as well, for he knew how desperate they were to catch him. It seemed strange that he was still sitting on his trainer's shoulders, when he should have been in an 'electricity-proof' cage.

James was about to start when they heard the sound of sprinting footsteps as Max appeared in front of them. "Hey Ash, I'm back."

"Hey Max," Ash said as he looked behind him for a while. Returning his attention to the kid, he asked, "Where are the others?"

"They ran into a little bit of distraction." Max replied back motioning with his hand towards the trio standing beside him.

"I knew it!" Ash said, staring back at them angrily. "You must have tried to steal their pokémon, isn't that right?"

Bonnie looked just as furious. Max looked at her, thinking she looked sweet, even when angry. Shaking his head, he looked back at Ash and said, "You got the wrong idea, Ash. I remember them having their pokémon when I came back."

Bonnie looked curiously at him and asked, "So you mean to say you went all alone to get the groceries?"

For a while, Max looked at her incredulously, wondering if she had gone mad. Then, it occurred to him that they had lied about it when they had left. He racked his brains as he answered, "Not really. I only got what was light enough for me to carry. As it was, the lightest provisions were to be given to Professor Oak. So, I had gone to give it to him."

It was the best answer he could think of on the spur of the moment. Bonnie gave him a slightly doubtful glance but seemed to have believed him. Meanwhile, Ash had been wondering what Max meant when he had said he had got the wrong idea. He looked at him as he asked, "What do you mean by saying I had got the wrong idea?"

"Well, from what I heard," Max started, glancing at the trio who was standing aside looking fairly uncomfortable, "it seems like they are not a part of Team Rocket anymore."

"What?!" Bonnie's eyes widened as he finished. "You mean to say," she said, turning towards the uneasy trio, "you aren't Team Rocket anymore?"

The three exchanged glances and then nodded.

"I'm not surprised." Ash said, shaking his head as well as attracting the rest of the people's attention, "This was bound to happen someday."

Max's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe how Ash could straightforwardly state something like that.

"So you mean to say," Jessie asked hesitantly, "that you knew this was going to happen all along?"

"Not really," Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders. "I had a feeling you would be kicked out because of the number of times you failed to catch Pikachu. If not sooner, then later."

"You know their boss?" Bonnie asked disbelievingly.

"What has that got to do with this?" Ash asked, looking at her.

"How do you know, then, that their boss was going to kick them out?"

"I had met him during my Unova journey," he said, then turned towards the trio, "when you were trying to get Meloetta. I might not be a boss of an evil team like Team Rocket but I do know that he was going to kick you out, especially if you were going to waste his money, trying to catch Pikachu – which I know you haven't succeeded at all so far."

The trio hung their heads in shame, wondering how they could have been possibly _that_ stupid.

"Come in." They jerked their heads up towards Ash, surprised to hear him invite them.

"You aren't going to believe them so easily, are you?" Bonnie asked doubtfully.

Ash looked back at her as he said, "I don't believe them fully _yet_. But I know they have some good in them which has showed in a few instances."

He glanced at the trio and gave them a reassuring smile. "But it would be better if you are able to prove to us that you really aren't a part of Team Rocket."

He turned again and walked inside the house. Max and Bonnie followed. While Max gave the trio a small smile, Bonnie gave them a suspicious look. The rest three looked at each other and shrugged. They followed the other three apprehensively.

"Who is it, Ash?" came a voice which the ex-Rocket members knew very well. Footsteps were heard as the familiar woman came into view. It was Delia, Ash's mother.

Delia had thought that her son's friends had come back finally from their errand. Her shock, therefore, sounded quite plausible. The three looked at her and gave her friendly – yet slightly hesitant – grins. For a moment, Delia didn't move at all, then she spoke with such a contained fury, it shocked them.

"What do you want now?" She asked, somehow managing to keep herself from showing her anger.

Ash, knowing that his mother would react to them, went near her and said, "Don't worry, mom, they aren't a part of Team Rocket anymore."

His mother looked very doubtful at the fact, as she still spoke with the same tone, albeit with less ferocity. "Prove it."

James pulled out the Holo Caster and showed them the same clipping which he had shown a few hours earlier to the group of his friends. They all looked astonished at the display of friendship – and thoughtfulness on Jessie's part – as they watched the recording.

The recording finished as the trio looked at the expressions of the watching faces. They were satisfied with the look they were given. The watching faces mostly showed surprise – surprise that the trio was telling the truth after all, notably Delia, who had come to mistrust the three – along with a little bit of compassion.

"Maybe, you were telling the truth after all." Bonnie said, voicing others' thoughts. Ash invited them all inside and they followed, leaving Delia behind with a thoughtful expression. She turned towards her faithful companion and whispered in his ear, "Keep an eye on them for me, Mr. Mime. I still don't trust them fully. Make sure they don't try anything."

"Mime Mr. Mime."

Meanwhile, back in the Viridian Forest, a loud stampeding noise was heard.

"Hurry up guys!" May hollered, as she ran through the forest with a wrapped box in her hand. She was running quite quickly, leaving the others behind most of the time and then waiting for them to catch up. The others were already tired due to running continuously for the last fifteen minutes.

"What's the hurry, May?" Iris asked, least tired after May, who, for some reason, had quite a lot of energy in her. Clemont was the most tired and was lagging far behind the others, panting for all he was worth. Brock and Cilan were running slowly to keep him company, not wanting to admit they were just as tired as him. They all had different boxes with them – all wrapped in colorful gift wrappers.

"Don't you see?" May yelled back, "It's already dark. I don't want to be late for dinner."

The others sweat-dropped at her response. _How could we forget that?_ Dawn asked herself, running for all she was worth.

"Don't worry, May," Serena said, managing to catch up to her friend, "No one is going to steal your dinner. You don't have to run so fast."

"Maybe," May replied back, "but I don't want to take any risk."

 _Oh my gosh, I never ever have came across such a hungry monster._ Cilan thought to himself. _I wonder how she reacts if someone steals her food._

As if hearing his thoughts, Brock said in a low voice, "If you ever happened to come across May's food, it would be best to leave it alone. You wouldn't want to see her reaction if anything happens to her food."

In another few minutes, the whole group reached the outskirts of Pallet Town. Ash's house was near from where they were, for they soon saw the lights coming from the window.

May was about to run her way right through the door when a thought occurred to Serena, who was running nearest to her. She pushed herself as much as she could and propelled herself forward.

Bam! Serena landed right on May as the two skidded another few meters before stopping completely.

"Ouch!" May said, rubbing the side of her head, which had hit on the ground the moment Serena landed on her. As her vision cleared, she asked, "What are you doing, Serena? I will miss dinner!"

"Shhh…!" Serena hissed fiercely in her ear. Surprised by her response, May looked at her friend questioningly.

"Are you two okay?" Iris asked, catching up to them. The others soon reached where they were as Serena got up and replied in the affirmative. She then turned towards May, who looked somewhat furious at her, and said, "It's a good thing I managed to stop you. Did you forget that we aren't supposed to let Bonnie know about her surprise birthday party?"

As May realized what she meant, she scratched the back of her head and replied sheepishly, "Well, I guess I forgot, not wanting to miss dinner."

Dawn shook her head at her friend's silliness. She was about to berate her when they heard the door open. They hadn't noticed that Serena and May had landed quite near the household. They froze, as they watched the door open, waiting for Bonnie to come out.

The door opened completely but it wasn't Bonnie who was standing there – it was Ash. The others heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of him. He looked confused as he said, "Hey guys! We had started wondering just how long you were going to take."

"I guess," Cilan said, "we got distracted by Team Rocket."

" _Ex_ -Team Rocket," Dawn corrected him. "They aren't Team Rocket anymore."

"So you know about it, huh?" Ash asked, stepping out of the door.

"How do you know?" Serena asked, surprised. The others looked just as surprised.

"They are here."

"WHAT?!" They all yelled out loud. "They are here!"

"Who is it, Ash?" Max's voice came through, startling them all. He appeared in the doorway, looking confused. He looked at his sister and smirked, "So you finally decided to come, huh?"

May was about to retort but Ash interrupted. "Weren't you at the dinner table?"

Max looked at him and replied, "I was; but you were taking so long to come, so your mom asked me to see if there is any problem."

Hearing that they had been sitting at the dinner table, May's eyes widened. She was about to run inside when Iris pulled her arm and stopped her. "Idiot! Don't you want to hide the present?"

"Oh, yeah." May replied sheepishly. "I forgot."

Misty shook her head at her friend's forgetfulness and turned towards Max, asking, "Where have you kept that egg, Max?"

"At the lab."

"That's a great idea. Let's go there."

"We will be back in a few minutes." Cilan said, as he started walking the short distance towards the facility. The others followed as Ash and Max looked at their retreating figures, standing in the doorway blocking it completely.

"Hey, are you two going to stand here all night long?" Bonnie asked suddenly, from behind them, scaring them out of their wits. They jumped aside and saw Bonnie looking at them, tapping her foot impatiently. She turned towards Ash and said, "Your mom is waiting for you. You don't want to eat dinner cold, do you?"

"Of course I'm not." Ash said, running inside, leaving Max and Bonnie behind. They looked at him and sighed – together. They looked at each other and smiled.

"So who was there?" Bonnie asked, as she closed the door.

"It was sis and the others, back from running their errands." Max replied, as he headed towards the dining table where Delia and Ash were seated.

"Then where did they go? Don't they want to join us?"

"They are coming, after they put the groceries at the lab. Apparently, there wasn't enough space in the refrigerator to keep them all."

Bonnie looked dubious as she shrugged her shoulders at the reply and seated herself beside Max. The others arrived in a few minutes, panting quite a lot due to their continuous run from Viridian City. After a delicious dinner, they all headed to their selected rooms and went to sleep – having decided previously to wake up at midnight and decorate the house as well as the lab with the large amount of decorations that Delia had somehow managed to hide.

Meanwhile in the bushes near the house, the two new recruits had just called the headquarters.

"What is it?" Giovanni asked irately and sleepily. "I hope you have a decent reason to wake me up at this hour."

"We have taken control of the two decided centers. They gave up without a fight." The boy reported.

"And we have been keeping an eye on that trio you told us to. Apparently, they have teamed up with Ketchum as it seems right now. To be completely sure, we are bugging the whole house with microphones so that we won't miss any important part of their conversation." The girl informed.

"We were thinking of finishing off Ketchum but it occurred to us that we might miss something very important if we killed him. We have found out that he has bonded with several legendary pokémon, including Arceus. This information might be necessary."

Giovanni looked quite pleased as he said, "It is. Nice work, both of you. I knew I had made the right decision when I employed you. I am quite pleased with how you are working. Now, make sure all the captured centers are ready and arrange for transport of pieces to construct a small set at the north. Complete the task by the end of this week. And as far as Ketchum is concerned, I will take care of him myself."

The call was disconnected as the two were shrouded in the darkness.

* * *

 **Did you like the way I introduced the egg and how Max came into its possession? I couldn't really think of any other way to do it. Hope you like it. Have a nice day!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Welcome back everyone! Now, this might seem quite repetitive but once again, THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! I am just so very happy that you are liking my modest work so far and it motivates me to keep on writing. I am back with another chapter of this story for you to read and enjoy!**

 **I do not own Pokémon!**

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CHAPTER 8

"Wake up, Serena!" Serena heard someone whispering in her ear and poking her shoulder. She got up and started yawning. Halfway through her yawn, she felt her breathing get cut off. She was about to speak out loud, when she heard May murmuring in her ear, "Don't make any noise or you'll wake Bonnie up."

Serena was confused for a while before her memory cleared about last night. They were going to decorate the lab for Bonnie's birthday. They had decided beforehand not to decorate the house as they had been thinking at first. They knew Bonnie would come there if she didn't find anyone in the house.

Serena looked around to see the rest of the girls already waking up and stretching themselves as silently as they could. She got up and stretched as well.

"Let's go." Iris whispered, just loud enough for them to hear. They all tiptoed out the door and closed it silently. As they turned around, they heard another door – the boys' door – creak open and saw them coming out. Ash and Max looked the most sluggish for they were walking with their hands hanging by their sides. Brock and Cilan looked relatively fresh.

Paul had been sleeping at the lab for there weren't any extra rooms at Ash's home. They had managed to convince him to be awake for them along with Gary and Professor Oak to help them with the decorations of the party.

The whole group crept down the stairs as they saw Delia coming out of her room, looking quite fresh. She gave them a knowing look and they nodded. They went near the closet under the stairs and opened the door, their eyes lighting up at the whole bunch of streamers, ribbons, paper chain and various other things.

Everyone quietly took a box each as Delia handed them out one-by-one. Max got the lightest box which had a colorful bunch of paper chains and a gold-colored shiny paper with 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY BONNIE' written on it in colorful letters. Delia had prepared that sheet of paper yesterday at night, after everyone had gone to sleep. Max knew he had to make sure not to let anything happen to it, for it might waste all the hard-work.

After Delia got the heaviest box which had colorful electric lights and all the other electrical decorations, she closed the cabinet door and they all sneaked out of the house, carefully locking the door behind them. As Misty handed the house key back to Delia, they started walking towards the lab facility, enjoying the cool breeze that was blowing and the moonlit night.

Their pokémon would have enjoyed the midnight walk as well but they couldn't, for they were kept at the lab along with the rest of the pokémon – well everyone except Pikachu, who had insisted on being with his trainer. Ash had let him have his way and now the yellow mouse was sitting on his shoulder with a smile on his face.

"Isn't it nice? This cool atmosphere." Dawn asked, taking a deep breath. The others simply nodded, enjoying it themselves. They didn't want to disturb the night's peace with their continuous talk. Besides, they could talk any time whenever they want to the next day.

The whole group soon reached the lab as Max knocked on the door. The door was opened by Gary, who looked like he hadn't slept well. He gave a yawn as he fully opened the door and stepped aside to let them enter. "Come in guys. I couldn't sleep well."

"Why? What happened?" Misty asked, raising her eyebrows, sounding slightly worried.

"I had been continuing my research, late into the night, for the last few days. I did that today as well and I had been helping Grandpa with the new pokédex – this one will include mega-evolving pokémon, you see. So, I hadn't had any sleep."

"Couldn't you have skipped this research for a night?" May asked.

"I would have if I could. As it is, we have to launch this pokédex by the end of this month and we are not yet done with finding all the mega-evolving pokémon. It takes quite a lot of time, you know."

"Well, you better sleep once the new version is launched." Misty berated him with a slight motherly tone to her voice – which didn't go unnoticed by May, Delia and Brock.

Brock managed to hide his surprise. It wouldn't do to show this expression, for he was standing right in front of Gary and if Gary saw him, he would be questioned – a thing he didn't really look forward to. _So, Misty has developed a thing for Professor Gary Oak, huh? Who would have thought? I am itching so much right now to pull her ear and drag her away from him, even if she didn't propose to him like I used to. That would teach her how much it hurt whenever she did that!_

They went in as Ash closed the door, being the last one to enter. "So, where do we start?"

Everyone looked around the room they were in. The room was quite big. If half of Ash's Tauros were to be placed in line behind each other, they would cover the length of the room. Similarly, the breadth of the room looked like it could accommodate a third of his Tauros.

The room mostly contained all the tools and necessary equipment for research and to heal injured pokémon. So, there was quite a lot of space for all of them to move around.

All of them put down the boxes and opened them starting to pull out all the decorations. It took some time for them to decide what was to be kept where due to the number of varying opinions.

"I know where we should start," Clemont smirked, his glasses shining, "The future is now, thanks to science! Clemontic Gear, on!"

He suddenly unfolded a cloth to show another one of his inventions. "I had thought we would encounter a situation precisely like this one. I call it my Ash-and-Bonnie's-birthday-decorator-machine."

"Science is so amazing." Ash and Max chorused together, fascinated by the strange machine. May was excited too, but she didn't show it as shamelessly as the other two. The others, except Serena, were wondering how Clemont could have predicted the situation.

"You could have simply called it 'The Birthday Decorator'." Serena muttered to herself, sweat-dropping at the inventor and his ridiculous names. Braixen seemed to agree with her. Pikachu, though, was just as fascinated as his trainer.

Clemont continued with his explanation, "You put one of those boxes here, in this space. Once I start the machine, it will scan each object it will pull from the box and then it will place it at its perfect position in this room. All I have got to do is enter the dimensions of the room."

As he finished with the explanation, he picked one of the heavier boxes containing the electric lights and placed it in the square-shaped space in the machine. He, then, entered a few numbers – _probably the dimensions of the room,_ Brock thought – and then started the machine.

The machine started making various noises as a red light shot through what looked like a small lens and scanned the lights as it pulled it from the box. The machine seemed to work perfectly, as it moved around the room positioning the whole chain of lights all around the wall and sticking it with tape.

Just as the last light was taped to the wall, the machine started making even weirder and louder noises. Serena and Ash, knowing what was about to happen next, yelled at everyone to step away from the machine, as they themselves ran a good distance from it. The others were confused but ran away from the machine, nonetheless. And in a good time too, for the machine exploded in million pieces, giving out black smoke and covering Clemont in it as well, as he had been standing nearest to it.

"Not again!" Clemont cried out loud, looking miserably at the remains of the machine.

Serena and Ash simply sighed. It was a good thing they managed to run away in time, or they would have gotten covered up with soot like the other times when the inventor's machines had exploded.

"What just happened?" Cilan asked, looking back at the charred remains of the device.

"Well, it is like most of Clemont's inventions seem to have an affinity for an explosion. Most of them explode in our faces while they are working, covering us up in soot." Serena explained to the confused group.

"That was awesome Clemont!" Ash exclaimed, looking at the inventor with fascination.

"But it exploded, anyway." Clemont said, hanging his head in shame. As Ash tried to cheer up the inventor with the others looking at them, Serena continued with a sigh, "Though some things never seem to change. Ash _always_ gets fascinated at all his inventions and the ridiculously long names he seems to give them."

The others chuckled as Clemont came up to them, looking embarrassed, "I am really sorry, guys. I didn't mean it to explode and make such a mess."

"That's all right," Delia said with a smile, as she scrutinized the damages. "No harm done. The explosion wasn't too loud or huge so it has only ruined a small part of the room. It can be cleaned up easily."

After cleaning up the mess that Clemont's invention had made, they returned back to their work of putting up the rest of the decorations.

"We will place the paper chains like this," May said, holding a paper chain in her hand, "One end will stick to the corner of the ceiling and the other in the centre."

Most of the people liked her idea as they decided to get to the work right then. "Or," Dawn said, "We might not be able to finish by dawn."

Acting along her advice, they started with their jobs. While the girls were doing the paper and ceiling decorations, the boys started with the remaining electrical decorations. Delia had gone into the kitchen to start baking the cake. She had quite a big job for she was going to make a huge cake, wishing both her son and Bonnie happy birthday. She knew that Ash could eat any flavor of cake so long as it was edible. She had already asked Clemont about Bonnie's favorite flavor – which was chocolate. Taking out the chocolate flavoring, she set to work.

While Delia was busy with the cake, the rest were helping each other – and to everyone's surprise, Paul was helping as well. Their pokémon wanted to help as well, so they were given the job to give the girls whatever they needed from the boxes. With so many helpers around, they were decorating the room fairly quickly.

"Can anyone hold the ladder?" Misty asked, halfway through her work, looking down towards the boys. "It isn't steady enough."

Gary, nearest to the ladder, went near her and held the ladder firmly, then nodded. Misty nodded back and returned to her job. She saw she had to move some more towards the corner where she was working. She stretched herself some more, but she didn't notice that she was standing on the corner of the ladder. Her foot slipped suddenly, just as she had reached and stuck a corner of the paper chain.

"AAAHHHH…!" She screamed as she started falling down. Hearing her screech, everyone snapped their attention towards her, as she landed directly on Gary's head.

"Are you okay, Misty?" Dawn asked fearfully, as she ran towards the two. Misty was rubbing her back, probably jolted from the fall.

"Well, I don't feel any pain." Misty replied, as she got up.

She heard a groan and turned to see Gary getting up, rubbing the back of his neck. "How would you? You landed on me."

"I am really sorry." She apologized, looking down at the floor.

"It's a good thing I don't feel any pain either." Gary said, bending his neck in all directions.

"You had loved the feeling, hadn't you?" May suddenly whispered in Misty's ear.

"What?! What do you mean, May?" Misty whispered back, trying to fake that she hadn't understood her friend though she had gone slightly red.

"Don't pretend Misty. Do you think I don't know about your little crush?" May whispered back, grinning to herself.

"You must be mad! It's nothing like that!" Misty replied fiercely, looking away from her.

"What's nothing like what?" Gary asked, looking at them questioningly. Apparently, in her anger, Misty had said out loud what she was going to whisper to May. Both their heads snapped towards him. The others had already returned to their jobs, not wanting to waste any more time.

"Nothing really, Gary. Just some girl talk." May replied, looking innocently back at him. Misty decided not to speak anything at all in case she let anything slip she didn't want to. Gary looked back somewhat doubtfully, then shrugged his shoulders and returned back to his job of arranging the electrical lighting.

The two girls returned to their jobs as well, but this time May helped Misty, with her part of decorations. In a couple of hours, they managed to finish the decoration of the whole room. They stepped back towards the door and looked at their artwork. It certainly looked promising enough. They hoped they had done a good enough job of it.

Just as they started packing up the unused items, – which were almost none – Delia came out and looked at their jobs, her eyes lighting up. "This looks really special. You all have done a really great job of it."

They looked back at her and gave her bright but tired grins. She smiled back at them, as she continued, "I would like a little help from the boys."

They nodded and started walking towards her. Meanwhile, Delia had turned towards the girls and was telling them to place a huge table in the middle of the room, slightly away from the door. As they reached her, she motioned them all inside the kitchen and said, "The cake is ready now. Bring it here and keep it on this table."

The boys nodded and went into the kitchen as the girls waited for them. They soon smelled a mouth-watering smell as the boys appeared with the huge cake. The cake had what you could call five levels, each covered with layers of chocolate frosting, decorated with vanilla icing. A cherry was stuck in the middle of the vanilla icing on the top of the cake. The whole cake was covered with a layer of chocolate chips – but they were not like the regular ones. Instead, they looked like miniature versions of potato chips; they were melted and flattened, then broken in small pieces and sprinkled on the cake. The cake looked so delicious that the girls could have eaten it right then, if they hadn't had to wait until the next day.

The boys placed the cake on the table as everyone gathered to see it up close. Their mouths were watering, just by looking at it.

"You have made such an extraordinary cake." May said, looking at Ash's mother. She simply gave them a smile as she replied, "Thank you very much. Glad you all like it so much."

"Like it? I can hardly wait to put it in my mouth." Ash said, giving his mother a brief glance before returning his stare to the cake. He brought up his finger to scoop up a small bit of icing from the cake but his hand was slapped away from it by Misty.

"Can't you wait until morning to eat it? You are so greedy." Misty said, as Ash sighed.

"Do I have to wait until morning? I am hungry due to all the work we did for the last few hours." He complained, giving the cake another look before returning his eyes to Misty.

"Well, since it's already past midnight," Dawn said, looking at the wall clock and wanting Ash to shut up about food for some time, "Happy Birthday, Ash!"

The others greeted Ash as well. Max had already greeted him for he had been working with him. He, now, had left to check on his egg, while the others finished with their wishes for Ash.

"Professor Oak!" Everyone heard Max call as they turned towards him. He was standing in the doorway at the end of the room. He looked excited as he continued, "that egg I had kept in that room; it is glowing."

Everyone looked excited as Professor Oak said, "Bring the egg here, Max. We will keep an eye on it."

Max nodded and ran off to get the egg as the others looked back at each other excitedly.

"I wonder what pokémon it will be." Gary said, putting on a thoughtful expression.

"It will be an Eevee." Iris said, getting a surprised look from Gary.

"How do you know?"

"James told us."

"James who?"

"The one from Team Rocket."

"Oh, right." Gary said, scratching the back of his head. "I had forgotten about him. But anyway, how does he know?"

"He said that," Brock said, gaining the researcher's attention, "by looking at the color of the egg."

"Now that you mention it, where are they?" Ash asked, looking around.

Hearing his question, Paul answered, "They are still sleeping. I tried to wake them up but they just turned away from me in their sleep."

Meanwhile, returning to the vexed question of egg coloration, Gary asked skeptically, "Does that even matter?"

"Of course it does, my son." Professor Oak said, giving his grandson a stern glance. "Each pokémon's egg has its own unique color combination."

"Really? I thought it is random."

"And you say you are a researcher." Ash said, grinning at his friend.

"Shut up, Ashy-boy."

"Don't call me that."

"Don't make me."

"Here you go, Professor Oak." Max said, appearing beside the old professor and ending the fight between the two boys for the moment. Just as he handed the egg to the old man, the egg glowed again.

"Now let's see." Professor Oak said, heading towards a strange-looking machine, carefully handling the egg. He placed the egg in a space, made specifically for holding eggs tightly and carefully, and looked towards a screen which showed the egg being scanned. Many different digits appeared as both the Oaks and Clemont studied them carefully. Ash looked more confused than others, not understanding how a bunch of numbers could tell someone all the details of an egg, as they stared at the three scientists along with others.

"It seems like you're right." Gary said, returning his glance to the others, who looked back at him inquiringly. "Everything shows that the egg has to be an Eevee."

"When do you think it will hatch?" Max asked anxiously, but with a curious tone to his voice as well.

Looking back at the screen and studying all the numbers, Professor Oak said, "It looks like the egg won't hatch until another five to ten hours."

Max sighed, relieved. "That means Bonnie won't know about Eevee until it hatches."

"I think Bonnie will love this as a gift." Clemont said, looking at Max. "I suppose you chose the right thing."

Max grinned back at him happily. A thought suddenly occurred to him, as he thought about the word 'gift'.

"Now that you mention it, Clemont," he said, gaining his attention. He looked back at Ash sheepishly, as he continued, "I guess we completely forgot to buy presents for Ash."

Hearing his words, everyone realized that they had beyond doubt forgotten about it, as they looked at each other embarrassed – Serena more so than others. _How could I have forgotten about it?_ She berated herself.

Ash, meanwhile, didn't look in the least bothered about that, as he said, "Don't worry, Max! I don't need any gift at all. I have already gotten the best gift I could have asked for in your friendship – everyone's friendship. I wouldn't have been able to reach where I am if it hadn't been for all your support. I even made quite a lot of friends, helped a whole lot of people and caught so many pokémon, while travelling with you guys. That's the biggest gift I could have ever asked for."

Everyone started smiling as he continued. They should have known they hadn't needed to worry. Even Serena, who had been feeling somewhat depressed, had a big smile on her face.

"That's my boy!" Delia exclaimed, hugging Ash suddenly.

"Mom, I can't breathe!" Ash squeaked out. His mother let him go. He started panting heavily as everyone started laughing. Even Paul gave a small smirk at the idiocy – something which he usually wouldn't do. Their pokémon were laughing along with them.

Brock ran his eyes on the laughing pokémon for what he thought was the millionth time. Something had been bothering him when everyone, especially Dawn, had let their pokémon out, and so he had been trying to figure it out, while helping the others. He suddenly realized what had been bothering him. He turned towards Dawn as he asked with a questioning glance, "Hey Dawn, where's Buneary? I don't see her."

Hearing him, Ash looked at the pokémon as well and then glanced back at the coordinator. Pikachu, meanwhile, had sweat-dropped, somewhat scared of the answer and wondering what had made Brock ask that. He didn't want the rabbit pokémon to appear out of nowhere and hug him to death.

"Oh, about Buneary," Dawn replied, "You do remember that she was chosen for the poké-chic magazine, don't you?" Receiving a couple of nods, she continued, "Well Hermione offered to take care of her while I am here. Besides, Buneary really looked like she wanted to stay and model, instead of coming here. So, I let her. Apparently, I think she had gotten over her crush on Pikachu after being away from him for so long again, after Unova."

Pikachu sighed in relief at hearing that. He certainly didn't want to hear about her being on her way here right now! Dawn, hearing Pikachu sigh, said with a smirk, "Just look at Pikachu. Completely relieved that she won't be here!"

"Pika pikachu!" Pikachu said, flailing his tiny arms, looking slightly terrified.

As everyone laughed again, Max gave a wide yawn. Apparently, he wasn't used to remain awake at such an odd hour. His yawn set others off as they decided to get whatever little sleep they could. Everyone headed to the remaining two empty rooms in the lab and split themselves, moving towards their respective rooms.

Meanwhile, just as they went to sleep, Bonnie woke up in the house. Unaware of the fact that she was all alone, she walked down the stairs to get some water. Just as she drank some, she heard a slight tapping coming from the attic at the very top of the house.

Curious about it and not feeling sleepy anymore, she silently tiptoed up the stairs and to the entrance of the attic. She put an ear to the door and listened carefully, making sure not to make too much noise. From inside, she heard a slightly metallic tapping coming, like the one she had heard brother make when he was working on one of his many inventions.

She thought it to be strange that her brother was working on an invention in the dead of the night in the attic. She suddenly called to him as she started to open the door, "Clemont, is that you?"

Just as the first sound came from her throat, she heard hurried footsteps, fading away from the door. Thinking that there was an intruder in the house, she suddenly shouted at whoever was inside to run away before she called her friends. Just as she opened the door fully, she saw a retreating shadow going out the window. The moon was behind her so, even when she stared at the shadow as she ran towards it, she couldn't make out any feature on its face.

The shadow seemingly disappeared to the side as Bonnie reached the window. She looked out to see not one but two shadows, running towards the safety of the bushes. Knowing that it would be futile to even run after them and that even if she did, there was no telling what the two would do to her, she contented herself with shouting, "Whoever you are, you better not try to intrude again or I will tell my friends to take care of you."

Shouting out the threat satisfied her to an extent as she closed the window and then closed the attic door. She suddenly felt sleepy as she gave a huge yawn and then went into her room. She was so tired that it didn't even occur to her that there was no one in her room. She simply cuddled to her pillow and slept soundly throughout the rest of the night.

Meanwhile, in the cover of the bushes outside the house, the two shadows had heard the threat that the small kid had given to them, followed by a slam as she closed the window tightly. The two were breathing heavily from the narrow escape they had just had.

"I thought there wasn't anyone inside."

"You mean to say you didn't know for sure?"

"I mean I thought they had all gone to that lab on that hill. They had been quietly discussing to go and decorate. I guess it's someone's birthday or something."

"I guess that must be that kid's birthday; no wonder she was still inside when we broke in there. It must be a surprise party."

"But surely, she must have seen by now that there's no one in the house. How come she hasn't come out yet?"

"What has that got to do with our mission, anyway? Stop bothering yourself with such stupid matters."

"You would have known what it's like to celebrate your birthday if that hadn't happened in your past."

"Don't remind me of that. It still gives me nightmares." A shiver followed. "I wish I hadn't been there when that happened."

"Well, let's just forget about it. Are you sure we don't need to go inside again?"

"No need. I was done just before that kid interrupted. Let's activate the bugs." A beep followed by light snores.

"That must be the kid snoring. She's sleeping, so we are safe."

"And the bugs are working well enough. We will easily be able to hear them talking. Not that I am too positive about the result."

"You never know when they might slip up something that could be useful to us."

"I guess. Let's sleep now. No one's there inside so it isn't worth it to remain awake for the rest of the night."

"I agree with you on that. Let's sleep." A yawn and it was followed by the sound of someone snuggling into their sleeping bag.

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 **Now this chapter was somewhat shorter than the usual length, but don't worry, I will try to keep all my chapters of equal length of around 5k to 6k words. Hope you like this 'short' one!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone! The only thing I've got to say today is: I don't own pokémon!**

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CHAPTER 9

Meowth woke up suddenly as he felt an empty feeling in his stomach. He opened an eye and looked around to see nothing but darkness. He got up from his bed and slowly tiptoed towards the faint outline of the door that he could see, now that his eyes had gotten accustomed to the dark, making sure not to step on his friends' feet. He was hungry and wanted to eat something, for he hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before.

As he came out the door silently, he suddenly smelled something tasty – in fact, _very_ tasty and mouth-watering – something that smelled like chocolate. Looking around the room, he saw a huge carton kept on a table. The table hadn't been there the night before, now that he recalled.

He went near the table as noiselessly as he could and lifted a side of the box slowly. Even though he couldn't see the dark brown color of the chocolate cake, he got the unmistakable waft of chocolate from underneath the lid. He was about to scoop up a small bit of the cake when it occurred to him that he might get accused of it. Not wanting to stain whatever little impression they had made on the whole group, he sighed and placed the lid on the cake back the way it had been.

Unknown to him, just around the corner, Delia's partner and housekeeper, Mr. Mime had woken up due to the slight sound he had made while closing the door. Mr. Mime had been sleeping with one ear open, in case any of the ex-Team Rocket members tried something. He had been spying on Meowth as Meowth looked around the room. He had almost attacked him when he had gone to scoop a bit of the cake that Delia had made so lovingly and carefully.

Hearing Meowth sigh and seeing him replace the lid surprised him quite a lot and he felt thankful that he hadn't attacked Meowth for no reason. He was almost about to go back to sleep, when he heard Meowth's stomach growl. The growl sounded quite loud in the dead of the night, as Mr. Mime realized that he was hungry. He turned towards the wall clock and saw in the faint light that it was 3:30 in the morning.

It made sense that Meowth was hungry, for they had eaten earlier than usual the evening before at around 7:30. He tiptoed silently towards Meowth and said in his pokémon voice, "Mime Mr. Mime."

Meowth, suddenly hearing himself being called, almost shouted out loud before recognizing the familiar voice. He turned to the mimic Pokémon and asked in a cautious whisper, "What are you doing Mr. Mime? You almost made me panic with that sudden call."

"Mime mime Mr. Mime."

"You will make me something to eat, really? Thank you so much." Meowth thanked him as he followed him to the kitchen. Just as they reached the kitchen door, they heard faint footsteps coming from the corridor, just beyond the room. They could hear the faint footsteps due to their highly active sense of hearing. They strained their ears even more as they could make out the footsteps cautiously moving along the floor.

Looking at each other and nodding in unspoken affirmation, they started running as quietly as they could towards the general direction in which they had heard the footsteps. They ran down the corridor, as the shuffling of footsteps stopped.

Thinking that whoever was there had heard them, the two stopped at once, holding their breaths and straining their ears to hear the sound again. After almost a minute, they had decided to give up and head back, when they heard the footsteps once again, but this time fading in intensity.

Not wasting any more time, they started running once again. They reached the room where everyone's pokéballs were kept. They had let their pokémon out for the time they were going to be there and so, their pokéballs were kept in the same room as Ash's, albeit in separate heaps to keep them from mixing.

Just as Meowth started opening the door, they heard a sound of cloth tearing. It sounded so loud; the two Pokémon thought that it must have surely woken up the whole neighborhood.

Meowth opened the door wide as Mr. Mime switched on the light. They scanned the whole room to check if there was a clue that could tell them who had broken in. All they could see was a pokéball rolling in the middle of the floor and the window wide open.

Meowth neared the window and checked its lock – he remembered quite well that all labs are well-secured and that all the doors and windows were always locked before the researchers turning in for the night. He saw a few scratches on the lock, indicating that the lock had been jimmied – he could easily tell that, for he himself had done that on various occasions.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mime had returned the rolling pokéball back to where it belonged – in Ash's heap of pokéballs – after scrutinizing it for any damages. It was strange how someone had broken into the lab and hadn't taken anything when they had had the time – not that he wanted to but it was very weird of the intruder.

"It seems like the window has been forced open." Meowth said thoughtfully, in a low voice, so that only Mr. Mime could hear him. Hearing him, Mr. Mime went to check the lock on the window as he gave a grave nod. Breaking into someone's house didn't usually happen into a small town like Pallet, leading to the residents not taking their safety seriously.

It was the first time it had ever happened in the lab and Mr. Mime promised himself to make sure this didn't happen again.

"Is anything missing?"Meowth asked, looking at Mr. Mime.

"Mime Mr. Mime."

"So the only thing misplaced was Ash's pokéball and nothing more. Are you sure?" Meowth asked, receiving a nod from the mimic pokémon. _That's strange. If I had had the chance, I would have surely taken a few pokéballs with me. Who was this who had broken in just to leave without stealing anything?_

Meowth would have probably thought about that for the rest of the night had he not been interrupted by his hungry stomach. He rubbed his stomach, as he looked towards Mr. Mime with an embarrassed smile. Mr. Mime smiled back and after making a tentative provision for a lock, Mr. Mime made a small snack for the cat Pokémon to eat.

By the time everything was done, it was almost 4:30. Meowth, suddenly feeling sleepy after the night's excitement, wished Mr. Mime night – or morning as he would have preferred – and started heading towards his room, followed by the mimic pokémon. As the two passed the room in which the birthday cake was kept, another question occurred to Meowth as he asked, "What's the cake all about?"

"Mr. Mime mime Mr. mime."

"It's Bonnie's and Ash's birthday? I guess I should have known." Heading inside his room, he went to sleep just as his head touched the pillow, his body craving for the remaining sleep it wanted.

Meanwhile, in the adjacent room, where the remaining boys were sleeping, Gary had just woken up to the sound of his alarm. He had kept the alarm near his ear so that he would wake up before anyone else did, to continue his research on mega-evolving pokémon. He woke up and yawned as quietly as he could and then got up to wash himself.

As he came out of his room, he was surprised to see Mr. Mime awake and looking out the window. The pokémon wasn't awake until it was well after 6 in the morning. "Good morning, Mr. Mime. How come you are awake so early in the morning?"

"Mime Mr. Mime. Mime mime Mr. Mime Mr. Mime."

"I wish I could understand your language, Mr. Mime. All I can understand right now is that you are saying something about a window and a pokéball."

Mr. Mime sighed, knowing that it would be futile to try and make humans understand everything in his language. So instead, he took hold of Gary's hand and pulled him towards the pokéball room. Once inside the room, Gary was surprised to see the window being held closed by a string tied to its handle and the other end tied to one of the many shelves in the room.

Not needing everything to be pointed at by Mr. Mime, he went at once near the window and checked its lock. Seeing the faint scratches on it, he knew that there was something very wrong. "So you were telling me that someone had broken into this room?"

Mr. Mime nodded. Gary asked again, "Was anything stolen?"

This time, Mr. Mime shook his head, receiving a surprised expression from Gary. He had the same thought that Meowth had had on knowing that fact. _What kind of an intruder this is who doesn't steal anything after breaking in?_

Nevertheless, to be absolutely sure, he went through everything in the room, which almost took half an hour, but came up with nothing. Everything was in its place.

"Mr. Mime." Gary turned towards Mr. Mime who had taken hold of the pokéball at the top of Ash's heap. The pokémon handed him the pokéball and then pointed towards the middle of the floor, gesticulating with his arms all the while.

"So you are telling me that this pokéball was lying in the middle of the floor?" Mr. Mime nodded at Gary's question.

"All right then," Gary said and headed towards a microscope in the room, "Let me check if there's any problem with it."

After checking the pokéball from all angles for a few minutes, Gary finally looked up and then murmured, "There's nothing wrong with it. Then who was the idiot who broke in for no reason?"

Mr. Mime shrugged his shoulders in response, though Gary hadn't asked him. He looked towards the wall clock which showed it was 5:15 and yawned. He headed towards his room, where he was sleeping and went to get his remaining sleep.

Meanwhile, Gary decided to call Officer Jenny as a precaution, in case there might be any clue to the intruder that he might have missed. The officer soon arrived at the scene and asked a great many questions to the researcher. She was all for waking up the rest of the people in the house to question as well but Gary managed to assure her that only he and Mr. Mime knew what had happened and there was no need for the others to get worked up about this.

He went and shook awake Mr. Mime and Professor Oak too, for this was something that he should know. He was surprised to see Mr. Mime going to the trio's room and coming back with Meowth barely awake but kept himself from asking any questions, knowing that he would come to know about everything in time.

Professor Oak was really concerned to hear about the break-in as Gary explained his side of the story to him and the officer once again. Meowth, fully awake, started telling about his side of the story as well and revealing a few details that the others, except Mr. Mime, didn't know about. One detail about the sound of a cloth tearing took the officer's interest, for she knew that it could be a useful clue.

Writing down all the needed notes, Officer Jenny headed towards the room, following Gary who was in the lead. The others followed. The officer looked around the whole room, but didn't come with anything else, much like Gary when he had searched.

"You told me that you had heard a sound like a cloth being torn, didn't you?" The officer asked Meowth again, who nodded in response. She looked thoughtful as she looked around the room again. It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn't checked the window and the area outside it – the spot from where the intruder had entered.

She went near it and checked the window sill closely, looking for anything that might be of importance. Not finding anything, she climbed up on the sill and jumped out the window, as if trying to mimic the way the burglar might have escaped. The room was on the ground floor with the window surrounded by bushes.

Just as she jumped and landed, the whole group heard a cloth being torn. The officer looked behind her back and saw the lower back side of her uniform caught in the thorny bushes under the window. The thorns had caught the uniform so tightly that the force of the jump had ended up tearing the cloth.

Officer Jenny sighed as both Meowth's and Mr. Mime's eyes widened. "That's it!"

"Mime!"

"What?" Gary asked questioningly.

"That's almost like the sound that we heard, you know, the sound of a cloth being torn."

"You're right." Officer Jenny said, agreeing with him as she looked thoughtfully at her torn garment. Managing to free her uniform, she carefully looked and poked around in the thorny bush. Finally finding what she thought could be a clue to the intruder, she carefully freed another small piece of cloth that was stuck in another thorn on the side of the bush. The cloth was roughly circular in shape and was colored white with a quarter of the cloth colored a shade of red. It looked strangely familiar to Meowth but he couldn't place where he had seen it.

Meanwhile, Officer Jenny was staring at the cloth, brooding at what kind of cloth it could belong to. The others were contemplating that as well.

"Is something wrong?" The group turned towards the door to see Jessie standing there, looking at them confusedly. Meowth beckoned her over as the rest started explaining what had happened in the room, once again. Officer Jenny wanted to pick her up for questioning, for she had recognized her as a member of Team Rocket. She would have arrested her had she had an arrest warrant. As it was, she didn't and could only pick her up for questioning.

She thought it strange how the others were acting as if they weren't near a dangerous person of Team Rocket. As they finished explaining to Jessie, the officer asked in a surprised voice, "How come you are talking to her as if she's an old friend of yours? Don't you know she's a part of Team Rocket?"

All heads turned to the officer as Professor Oak replied, shaking his head, "They aren't anymore. Although, I think they could help you if you wanted to do something about Team Rocket."

The two ex-members sighed, relieved to know that they were being helped. Officer Jenny nodded. She wouldn't have trusted the two if anyone else other than Professor Oak had vouched for them. Professor Oak, being a famous personality, was highly respected in these regions and Officer Jenny trusted his decision enough, to know that she shouldn't get an arrest warrant unless absolutely necessary.

Jessie suddenly noticed the piece of cloth that Officer Jenny held in her hands and went near it to see it closely. Quite like Meowth, she thought she had seen that kind of color combination somewhere, though it was escaping her mind at the moment. She asked, "Can I look at the cloth more closely?"

Officer Jenny gave the professor a brief glance, before handing over the cloth to her. She studied it again, trying to put a finger on what it might be a part of. Then, it suddenly occurred to her. Handing over the cloth to Meowth, she ran back the way she had come, saying, "I will be back in a minute."

The others looked at each other perplexed and wondering if she had got something that could be of help. Jessie returned in a few minutes, but with their Holo Caster. She started it and scanned through the many pictures stored on it before stopping at a picture of the trio in their uniforms, looking at the camera with happy grins on their faces. The picture showed their upper body completely, revealing their uniforms' design.

She zoomed in on her uniform where the bottom corner of the capital R was visible. Meowth suddenly realized what she was going to tell and brought up the cloth, placing it in such a way that the red portion of the cloth was on the top right. Once Jessie had zoomed in enough, he brought up the cloth and held it beside the now-visible bottom left corner of the R.

The others stared at the clue for a while before it clicked to Officer Jenny. "Of course, that's it! That cloth looks like the part of the Team Rocket uniform, if it's torn at the corner of the R."

"You are quite right it seems, officer." Professor Oak said, scrutinizing the cloth and the image on the screen, comparing them to each other, "Even the shades of red match each other. It's quite a big possibility that the cloth belongs to the Rocket uniform."

"Now, I realize why it seemed so familiar." Meowth said, looking at the piece of garment in his hand. "The type of cloth; it feels quite like the uniform Jessie and James used to wear."

"I guess that shows it," Gary said grimly, "The intruder was none other than some member of Team Rocket. Why they were here is a mystery, because nothing is stolen."

"Now don't worry about it." Officer Jenny said, trying to calm down the young researcher's sudden grim demeanor, "You guys have just provided a valuable clue to me. While I try to figure out this small case, why don't you replace the lock on the window and tighten up the security here?"

Gary nodded as the officer left with a wave of her hand and a salute. Relocking the window with the string for the time being, the group left the room and returned to the main room of the lab.

Seeing the decorations in the room made Gary remember that it was Bonnie's and 'Ashy-boy's birthday today. He turned to the wall clock and saw that it was almost 6:30. He was about to return to his research when he suddenly realized that when everyone had come there the night before, they had left Bonnie alone in Ash's house. Wondering if she had already woken up and hoping she had not; he ran inside the boys' room and shook Brock awake unkindly.

"Wake up and shake others awake," Gary ordered the still-sleepy Brock as he ran and took hold of the key to Ash's home. "I am going to open the door you stupidly left locked and forgot about."

Not saying anything else, he ran towards the house, leaving Brock wondering what all that had been about. He was about to go back to sleep when what Gary said suddenly made sense to him. He shot up from where he had just lied and went to wash the sleep out of his eyes, wondering how they could have forgotten about them locking the house.

After washing his face, he went back to his room and shook the others awake. After that, while he went to the girls' room to wake them up, the others went to wash up, knowing there wouldn't be much time before Bonnie arrived at her surprise birthday party.

Meanwhile, Gary reached the house and opened the door, but he forgot to do that carefully. The door opened wide and slammed into the wall behind it, making a deafening noise. Now completely sure that Bonnie must have woken up, Gary went into the kitchen to get some water as he started thinking of an explanation to give to her, in case she asks where the others were – not that Gary wasn't expecting it; he knew she _would_ ask.

He was quite right, for in a few minutes; Bonnie appeared at the bottom of the stairway, looking confused and perplexed at the emptiness of the whole house barring her – and Gary, as she saw him refreshing himself by splashing water on his face.

"Where are the others?" She asked, looking at Gary confusedly.

"At the lab."

"Why didn't they wake me up?"

"You were so tired you didn't wake up when they poked you."

"Well then, I guess I have to go there as well. What about breakfast?"

"Why don't you come there? I am sure Grandpa wouldn't mind everyone having breakfast there."

"Thanks so much."

"Why don't you wash yourself first? It wouldn't do to arrive at the lab in your pokémon night-dress."

Bonnie looked down at her Tyrantrum night-dress and then back at Gary, as she nodded. She sprinted back up to her room to get changed. Gary sighed as soon as she left, glad that he was able to buy some time for the others to get ready. He sat down at the dining table as he waited for Bonnie to come down.

In half an hour, she was back down, looking fresh and ready to face the adventures of the day. She and Gary started towards the lab, with Gary hoping silently that the others had managed to get ready to wish the kid.

 ** _Viridian Airport, Viridian City, Kanto_**

A sandy-haired teenager stretched himself to his full length as he walked out the arrival terminal of the Kanto airport. Beside him was a greenish-white snake-like pokémon.

"I guess this must be Viridian City."

"Ser."

"Now let's see," he said, as he pulled out a map of the city along with its surrounding area. The pokémon looked over his shoulder, seemingly interested as much as its trainer. The trainer put a finger at their current location and then traced it through a maze of paths to the start of a dusty trail which lead to Pallet Town.

Apparently satisfied with the decided path, he and the pokémon started towards the town as he muttered, "I guess I always underestimated you. But now, I am stronger than the last time and I _will_ defeat you, Ash."

 ** _North of Pallet Town, Viridian Forest, Kanto_**

"Alright, here! This way!" A female voice sounded through the forest as the first rays of dawn cracked in the sky. A grunt was heard in response and the sound of dragging came, as a Rhyhorn appeared round the curve in the path.

The path itself was just made in the dead of the night. The bushes were trampled, branches were broken, leaves had fallen about and the whole path was covered in the flattened leaves. The noise, when the path was being made, could have easily woken up the whole Pallet Town. But since they were far away from the town and there was no one for miles around, they could be somewhat lax regarding the noise.

The Rhyhorn appeared from the dense bushes, with a rope tied around its steel-like neck. The rope extended in the bushes, pulling something. That something soon appeared around the bend, with its circular base dragged on the ground.

It was a huge metallic dish that looked like a part of a radio telescope. It had a concave, shining, reflective surface with a pole extending from the centre of the hemisphere. A small ball-like sensor was at the end of the pole.

The Rhyhorn pulled the satellite dish up to what looked like the base of the dish, complete with its computer terminal. The plug of the terminal was attached to a small rectangular box – a battery specially made for a particular event that was to take place two weeks hence.

"Good job, Rhyhorn, thanks!" The yellow-haired girl said, as she gave the rock/ground-type pokémon a smile and a pat on its head. The pokémon grunted back and pushed its head in her hand, wanting another one. The girl giggled in a low voice and gave another pat to her Rhyhorn, before returning it to its pokéball.

"Now to wait for Jake," she muttered quietly, looking at the whole assortment of gears and parts in front of her.

As if in response to her mutter, the sound of breaking branches and crunching leaves reached her ears. She turned towards where the sound was coming from and stared for a while. The bushes parted as her green-haired companion, Jake appeared. He was panting hard as he supported himself on his knees, trying to regain his breath.

"Jake, you surprised me!" The girl said in a mocking tone.

Having regained his breath, Jake looked up and said, "Do you have to mock me all the time, Sadie? Try to escape when you're almost caught by the occupants of a house – with the windows surrounded by thorny bushes."

Sadie sighed and turned back to look at the parts of the radio telescope as Jake joined her. He, too, looked at the collection and sighed. Taking out a pokéball, he said, "Come out, Dragonite."

The dragon-type pokémon appeared out of its pokéball and stood in front of its trainer. Sadie took another pokéball out of her pocket and threw it. A Pidgeot appeared in front of her, beside the Dragonite. With the two trainers helping the pokémon by telling them where to place heavier objects, they started assembling the whole mechanism.

"So, what happened? Did you get those fingerprints?" Sadie asked, as she fitted a bolt and connected the terminal to the base of the telescope.

Jake looked up from the wiring he was working on and answered, "Yeah, I did. Though I didn't expect that Meowth to appear."

"He didn't see you, did he?"

"No, he didn't. Although when I was escaping, it suddenly occurred to me that we had forgotten to check about the security cameras."

" _You,_ not _we_ ," Sadie corrected, as she went about her job. "I had checked and there weren't any inside the lab, though the outside was covered with them."

"Well, it's a good thing," Jake said, returning to his work. "The Meowth might have seen me, but I doubt he would even recognize me, with the dark shrouding me in it."

There was a silence for a while as the two concentrated on their work. It was broken by Sadie, who asked, "So where are we going to use those fingerprints?"

"We will just mark the fingerprint in that clay-like powder and mould it. Then, we will be able to use it as damaging evidence against him."

"I know that. What I mean is when will we use it?"

"I know that the police will come again at the observatory again to check if there are any more clues. All we've got to do is place those fingerprints all over the place."

"It seems to me that we've done quite a lot of work in a short amount of time. Even Boss is pleased with us."

"Yeah, I guess he didn't expect much from us new recruits, I would say."

"Well, we proved him wrong. Although, I still think we could have done better by attacking the two observatories at once, instead of attacking them one-by-one."

"We didn't lose anything, did we? And our work is going ahead of schedule anyway. So, you don't have to worry."

"I guess." Sadie paused. After tightening the last bolt in its place, she looked up from her job and sighed. "Are you done there?"

"Yeah, almost." A pause followed. "Done."

The two got up and stood back to look at the assembled mechanism. The whole machine was ready. The only thing remaining was placing the satellite dish on the top of the base. Exchanging glances, they tied a string to its two sides and then, to their pokémon's necks. They ordered their pokémon to lift up the dish as Sadie herself, climbed up on Jake's shoulders to help the pokémon in the dark.

"Somewhat to the left. No, that's too much! Now, go to the right. Bring it forward. Some more, some more. Okay, that's enough! Now, bring it down slowly." After fitting the last component, she got down from her companion's shoulders as they all sighed, relieved that they hadn't damaged anything.

"Well, that takes care of the assembly. Now what?" Sadie asked, putting the screwdriver back in its place.

"Programming," Jake replied shortly as he started up the computer terminal. The screen lighted up and in a few minutes, Jake was busily typing with Sadie setting up the breakfast for the two. They hadn't been able to sleep for the night and instead, had worked at building the radio telescope. It had tired them out completely and they were hungry as well.

"How long will it take?" Sadie asked, as she started boiling eggs.

"Depends," was the reply. "I will probably have to work every night to be able to complete this."

"That's too bad." Sadie said, sounding sympathetic for once. "Well, I will be awake too, since we have got to keep an eye on them."

"Yeah, I would like to sleep but we can't get too relaxed or we might be late and have to work hard to catch up with the schedule."

"I know." Sadie paused again, as she turned over the whole plan in her mind. She still couldn't understand a few things that their boss had ordered them to do. She decided to ask her doubts to her companion. "Do you understand why the boss thinks Ash Ketchum is a real danger to him? I mean I know that he's a champion and all but if we keep his pokémon and him away from each other, I don't see how he could be a threat to us."

Jake looked up from his typing at her as he replied, "I don't know either. But apparently, somehow he might have been a problem to him, even without his pokémon. Or boss might just be taking precautions. Either way, he sees Ash as a threat – you can see by the way he has decided everything. If he starts becoming too nosey, his life will be at stake and I don't think boss would hesitate to finish him."

* * *

 **Now, I don't know what made me choose the names 'Jake' and 'Sadie' - maybe because they seemed to (somewhat) rhyme with Zack and Cody? (if you have watched or heard of the show 'The Suite Life of Zack and Cody'). Well, whatever the reason had been, these are the names I have decided on.**

 **How do you like this chapter? I am still working on the plot, so the updates _might_ get slower (emphasize the word 'might'), but I hope to keep you interested as it continues.**

 **ameyab97 signing out!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello everyone! Thanks so much for 7k+ views!**

 **Here is the tenth chapter for you to read:**

* * *

CHAPTER 10

"Come on, please tell me. Why didn't they try harder to wake me up?" Bonnie whined to Gary, as they walked towards the lab.

"I don't know, Bonnie." Gary replied back, exasperated. "I was sleeping at the lab, not with them."

Bonnie frowned as she stopped complaining, calming down completely from outside. She was still very confused as she kept on thinking. _Why didn't anyone wake me up? I am not that much of a heavy sleeper. And today is my birthday! How could Clemont forget about it and leave me alone in the house? Even Gary isn't telling me anything! What's wrong with everyone?_

The two soon reached the field surrounding the lab as Bonnie noticed something strange. _Where are all the pokémon? Aren't they usually here?_

"Where are all the pokémon? She suddenly asked Gary, who looked surprised at her sudden question.

He knew were everyone was, all right! But he wasn't going to let her know. Making a fake confused expression, he played with her, as he said, "That's strange. I thought everyone must be out here playing in the sunshine. I guess we will have to go to the lab and check if something is wrong."

Bonnie, thinking that there might be some problem, started running the rest of the way. Gary followed her, still playing along and hoping that the others had managed to get ready by then.

She reached the lab door and opened it wide only to be deafened by a very loud greeting.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY BONNIE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASH!"

Bonnie closed her eyes as the noise reached her. She, then, opened them and her jaw dropped at the sight that greeted her. All of her friends were standing in the middle of the decorated room, with all their pokémon standing in front of them, all having huge smiles on their faces. In the middle of the crowd was a huge cake covered with chocolate. The cake looked so big to Bonnie that she wondered if the whole town had been called!

Nearest the cake was Ash, standing with a smile bigger than others, as what the others had yelled occurred to Bonnie. Her face split into a wide grin that stretched from ear to ear as she started walking towards them, followed by Gary. She was too excited to thank everyone for the huge celebration that was apparently set for her and Ash's birthday. But her excitement reached the others anyway, for she was jumping towards them excitedly like a Mankey, instead of running or walking.

"Is this celebration really for me? For Ash? When did you do this? I don't remember any decoration in this room yesterday. And did you make that cake? It's so huge. I can't believe it. And who told you about my birthday? I never mentioned it to you, did I? I am so happy." Bonnie chattered on continuously, bombarding her friends with the millions of questions coming in her mind, as she continued looking around the room animatedly.

The others could only shake their heads at her excitement, as Clemont went up to her to calm her down. He started answering her questions, "That's right Bonnie. This celebration is set up for not only yours and Ash's birthday but also for his win in the league. We did it all during the night when you were asleep. And that delicious-looking cake was made by Delia. And I told the others about your birthday. And no, you didn't mention it."

"Thanks so much, Clemont." Bonnie said happily, hugging her brother tight by his waist.

Before she started going too out of hand again, Delia took charge of her as she said, "Now come here, Bonnie. You and Ash are going to cut the cake together."

Hearing her, Bonnie ran at once towards her and stood beside Ash expectedly, as Delia took hold of a knife and handed it over to Ash. Ash took the knife and then, place Bonnie's hand over the handle as the two held it together.

Once they were ready, the others started singing the 'Happy Birthday' song as they cut a piece from the bottom of the cake, after blowing out the candles together. They cut the piece in half as the others finished the song. They picked up each smaller piece and fed them to each other as the others yelled a Happy Birthday to the two. After that, Delia cut a few more pieces of the cake as Ash and Bonnie started giving everyone a bite from the pieces.

 _Just look at that huge blush,_ was the thought going through the girls' minds when it was Serena's turn for a bite. It turned out that Ash was going to be the one giving her a bite and the thought alone made her blush crimson. Ash, too dense to notice that blush, simply let her take a huge bite and then he moved on towards their pokémon, leaving Serena wondering if she was in a dream.

Meanwhile, Max was going to be fed by Bonnie. As Bonnie extended her hand with the piece of cake, Max couldn't help but blush lightly at the closeness of the two. _What's wrong with me? I don't remember being so uneasy near anyone – except that girl I had developed a crush on, while travelling through Hoenn. Wait, I don't have a crush on Bonnie, do I?_

May had noticed her brother's red face as he took a bite and realized that it wasn't only Serena having a thing for Ash, or Misty for Gary. It seemed that Max too had a thing for Bonnie. She grinned to herself secretly as she realized that her prediction of Max getting a girlfriend was going to come true.

In the meantime, Bonnie too had noticed Max's red face and she got confused. _Is that a blush on his face? Does that mean he is uncomfortable around girls his age? Or does he have a crush on me or something like that? I don't think that's possible; we are too young for things like that, although we could look cute together. Wait, did I really think that? I guess I am just over-thinking. I must really try to calm down my imagination._

With that final thought, Bonnie forgot about it as she started giving the cake to the pokémon. They were soon finished with 'taking a bite' of the cake, as the boys took it once again into the kitchen. Meanwhile, the 'gifting' session – as Bonnie like to call it – started and everyone started giving their presents to her as she opened them right then.

The list of items she got was quite long and was mainly related to pokémon – things like pokémon-themed hairbrush, toothbrush, hairpins, shampoo and even an Eevee night-dress gifted by Serena. While Brock gave her a book related to pokémon typing and battling strategies, Cilan handed her a book related to Pokémon Coordinating.

Clemont had made her another one of his inventions, which acted like a personal assistant to her and could answer all her questions related to Pokémon. It was controlled by her voice and could be updated whenever she wanted it to. She was very delighted by the 'Bonnie's Personal Assistant' as she asked a few questions to see if the device worked well or not. Even the other girls, who were not that interested in any scientific thing, got impressed due to the invention.

Ash apologized to her for not getting any gift but she thought no more of that and told him that she considered her amazing journey with him as her gift. After getting all the gifts, she looked around and saw that Max wasn't there. She asked, "Where's Max?"

"Well, he was here a minute ago." Ash replied slowly, as he looked around the room. For a moment, he was confused about Max's disappearance, but then, it occurred to him about the egg. _He must have probably gone to get the egg._

Just as the thought occurred to him, the door at the end of the room opened and Max appeared with both his hands behind his back, as he walked towards Bonnie. He had a small grin on his face as he stopped in front of the blonde girl.

Bonnie, curious about the object behind his back, stepped aside to peek at it but Max hid it from her again. She soon got exasperated trying to steal a look as she complained childishly, "What are you trying to hide, Max? Come on, I want to see it."

"Try harder." He replied back, teasing her and hiding it from her again. She was about to jump on him, exasperated due to his teasing, when the egg suddenly glowed brighter than it had ever before, surrounding Max with its bright light for a few seconds, before going back to normal. Bonnie's eyes widened as she recognized that glow at once, having seen Ash's Noivern hatch from it.

Noticing her wide eyes, Max sighed as he said, "I guess there is no point in hiding it anymore. Here's my gift for you."

He showed her the egg he had been hiding from her as her jaw dropped from the surprise and excitement. She was greeted by the sight of a dark brown colored egg with a zigzag light brown strip through its middle as the egg glowed once again, brighter than ever.

"Is this egg for me?" Bonnie asked hesitantly, still finding it hard to believe that she would act as a mother to an egg _herself_ , without the help of her elders. Max simply nodded with a smile, as he waited for her to take the egg.

For a moment, Bonnie didn't move at all, staring at the egg blankly. Then, she suddenly jumped on Max, completely taking him by surprise as the two landed directly on the ground. Max managed to keep the egg from falling but instead hit his head on the ground and closed his eyes, taking the impact of the sudden fall. Meanwhile, Bonnie ecstatically hugged him as she yelled out, "Thanks so much, Max! You don't know how much I wanted to be a trainer. Now, I can really be one. Thank you so much."

The others smiled at the two, and at Bonnie's excitement, as Bonnie crushed Max under her. Max opened his eyes, as his brain registered what was going on. He blushed and freaked out. "Bonnie, get off me! You are crushing me!"

"Oops, sorry." Bonnie quickly apologized and got off him. She snatched the egg from his hands as he too got up and hugged it tight. "I had really wanted to take care of an egg after seeing how Ash did with Noivern's. Thanks so much, Max!"

"Uh yeah, you're welcome." Max said, sweat-dropping and giving a small laugh. "Glad you like it."

"Like it? I absolutely love it. This is the best gift I could have asked for." Bonnie said ecstatically, holding the egg tight in her hands. She turned towards Clemont with a huge grin as she said, "I can take care of the egg, can't I, Clemont? You will let me do it, won't you?"

Clemont looked at her happy face and sighed. He said with a smile, "I can't say no to all that, can I? Now, this egg is your responsibility, Bonnie. Take good care of it."

"Really? Thanks so much, Clemont. This is the best birthday party ever."

Clemont turned towards Max who looked back at him. He nodded and smiled as Max returned it. They knew Bonnie could take care of the egg very well and the others agreed silently as they all watched Bonnie staring at the egg with a happy smile etched on her face.

The egg glowed again, even brighter than the last two times and for longer as Professor Oak looked at it thoughtfully. "I think the egg is about to hatch. Let's keep it in that machine and keep an eye on it. It will probably hatch soon."

Bonnie got up excited as she followed the old man to the mechanism kept in the corner of the room. She placed the egg in its arranged place as Professor Oak once again studied the figures. "It will hatch in a few minutes."

Everyone gathered around the machine and stared at the glowing egg excitedly, as they waited for the egg to finally hatch. The egg started glowing again and this time, it kept on glowing instead of fading away. Professor Oak took hold of the egg at once and placed it on the ground for everyone to see, as the egg glowed even brighter. Soon, the brightness became too much for everyone to keep on staring as they all looked away.

The light faded away and a small pokémon voice sounded, in the following expectant silence. "Eevee!"

The others snapped their heads back to where the egg was – or had been – as they were greeted by a cute sight. The small cub of the Eevee species stood there looking around it expectantly. All of them were mesmerized by the adorable and sweet pokémon, who looked around once again and then went to Bonnie. The cub reached her and started snuggling to her leg, making her giggle.

 _Apparently, it has decided Bonnie as her mother._ Iris thought, as she looked at Bonnie hugging the cub back and rubbing cheeks with it.

"I guess you are a trainer now, aren't you, Bonnie?" May asked her with a smile on her face. Bonnie looked at her as she nodded her head rapidly, returning her smile with a bigger one. "I am now a trainer, and once I am strong enough, I will beat you, May and you too, Dawn."

The two coordinators gave her determined smiles as Bonnie returned to petting the newly-hatched Eevee cub.

"So you have decided to become a coordinator?" Brock asked her.

"Not yet," she replied back, still petting Eevee, "but I have enough time to decide what I want to be."

"Won't you introduce Eevee to others?" Ash asked, as he motioned towards the waiting pokémon."

"Right," Bonnie said and jumped up. She went to the other pokémon and started introducing each one to Eevee, who seemed to be interested in getting to know them. It was most particularly interested in knowing Serena's Eevee as the two seemed to start in their pokémon language, with the others looking and smiling at them.

"Let's go out!" Everyone turned towards Paul who had spoken. Paul looked at Ash, as he took out a pokéball and hid it slightly behind his back – but not before letting Ash steal a glance at it. Ash smirked, realizing what he meant and nodded. He and Paul walked out in the field, with the whole crowd following them, excited to see the battle. The others who hadn't seen Ash and Paul's Sinnoh League fight were getting more excited by the second, as Dawn and Brock related a brief rundown of it to them.

Ash and Paul stood a considerable distance away from each other as Brock stood in the middle as the referee. The others stood, surrounding them, with Ash's pokémon getting more and more excited at the thought of a battle after such a long time. The two looked at each other in the eye as Brock yelled, "Alright, both of you, choose your pokémon."

"Electivire," Paul simply said, without batting an eye as the yellow electric-type pokémon walked in the battlefield. Serena took out her pokédex to scan the pokémon as Bonnie looked at it over her shoulder. _Electivire, the Thunderbolt Pokémon, and the evolved form of_ _Electabuzz_ _. When Electivire attacks, it pushes the tips of its two tails against its opponent._

"That's interesting." Clemont muttered to himself as he looked at Ash to see what pokémon he would choose.

Ash, meanwhile, had looked at Paul in the eye to see the fire burning in him for revenge. His choice of using Electivire as his battle partner made Ash realize that he wanted the revenge with Infernape, for the last battle between them was between these two pokémon and Infernape had managed to defeat Electivire.

The Electivire had the same determined expression on his face, as he exchanged a brief but a challenging glance with Infernape. Infernape caught it and smirked in anticipation, as he waited for Ash to choose him. It had been a while since he fought a dangerous yet exciting battle like the one in the Sinnoh League and he was dying to battle again.

Ash seemed to have read their minds as he said, "Infernape."

While his other pokémon were sad that he hadn't chosen them, Infernape walked onto the battlefield, maintaining eye-contact with the rival electric-type pokémon. Paul smirked as Brock yelled out again, "Let the battle begin!"

"Infernape, use flamethrower!" Ash yelled out pumped up as ever as Infernape let out a huge flamethrower.

"Protect!" The flamethrower hit the blue-colored shield and missed Electivire completely, leaving him without a scratch. "Use thunder!"

"Infernape, dig!" The fire-type pokémon disappeared in the ground, as the electric attack harmlessly passed over the hole. Paul narrowed his eyes as he waited for Infernape to appear. Electivire closed his eyes and seemed to go into a meditative state, as everyone waited excitedly.

The ground suddenly started cracking right at the feet of Electivire, as Paul shouted, "Now!"

Electivire placed his two tails firmly on the ground and lifted himself up very high, as Infernape came out of the ground with a flying fist. His punch didn't hit the electric-type pokémon at all, since Electivire was high in the air supported by his tails. Having missed the punch, Infernape stood back from Electivire as he came down on the ground, completely unscathed.

"I see," Ash said, with a smirk. "You want to beat me, don't you? I can see you have improved quite a lot. I remember Electivire being a lot slower than this. Well, don't think that you can beat me that easily, for we have improved as well. Isn't that right, Infernape?"

"Infernape!"

"So, don't you dare hold back!"

Paul gave a knowing smirk, then looked at him in the eye as he yelled, "Well then, we'll give it all we've got. Electivire, use Electric Terrain!"

Electivire released multiple bolts of electricity from its body and covered the whole field. The blight was so bright; the others had to turn away from the battle for a while. The glow soon disappeared, as everyone turned back to see the whole battlefield glowing yellow, with electricity crackling through it once in a while.

"What's Electric Terrain?" Misty asked to no one in particular.

"It's a move which powers up electric-type attacks and deals more damage to the opponent's pokémon." Clemont explained as he looked at Ash to see what he would do now. The last time Ash had come across this move was in his gym battle in Lumiose City. Ash had made Goodra use Rain Dance to cancel out its effect then. But now, with a fire-type pokémon on the field, Clemont was interested in seeing how things would turn out.

Ash gritted his teeth as he started thinking of a move to cancel out Electric Terrain. He knew the position he was in, for he had come across it while battling Clemont. He also knew that although Infernape wasn't damaged, it wouldn't be long until knock out due to the strong electric-type moves. _I gotta think of something. I can't let Infernape get injured. How do I cancel this? There has to be something._

"Electivire, use thunder!" Paul ordered as Electivire unleashed a powerful thunder, aiming straight at Infernape.

"Infernape, dodge!" Infernape jumped up high in the air, as the thunder passed below him harmlessly, once again. As soon as he landed, the electrically charged field, sent electricity spiraling through him, paralyzing him, as both Paul and his pokémon grinned.

"Now use thunder on the battlefield!" Paul ordered.

"Isn't that…" Dawn started as her eyes widened at the familiarity of the move.

Electivire pushed the tips of his tails in the ground and let loose another powerful thunder. The electricity passed through the battlefield, blowing up chunks of rocks high in the air. The rocks went up and then fell down, right on Infernape's head. The rocks were bigger in size than those at the Sinnoh League, for the electricity had got powered up due to the Electric Terrain.

"Infernape!" Ash yelled out frantically, as Infernape was bombarded with the huge chunks. Infernape was thrown down, not being able to move due to paralysis, as Brock stared at Infernape to see if he could move.

Infernape got up shakily and scratched his head, as he looked back at the electric-type pokémon determinedly, not wanting to lose. Ash looked back at Paul as he still thought of all the moves Infernape could use, but couldn't think of any.

"Infernape has taken quite a lot of damage because of Electric Terrain." Cilan observed.

Clemont nodded as he continued, "Ash will have to do something to cancel out the Electric Terrain or it won't be long until he loses."

"ASH!" Dawn suddenly yelled out loud, attracting everyone's attention. "Don't you remember how you canceled out the Toxic Spikes in the Sinnoh League?"

"That's right," Ash murmured, as he smirked and looked back at Paul.

Paul frowned. He knew that Ash could and _would_ balance out Electric Terrain if he didn't do anything soon to stop Infernape from going into the ground. "Use Thunder! Quick!"

"Use dig, Infernape! Go down as much as you can!" Ash ordered just as quickly, not flinching in the least. Infernape disappeared in the ground just before the Thunder reached where he had been standing. Paul knew at once that Electivire would get a lot of damage but ordered anyway, "Stay off the ground, Electivire! Keep as away from it as you can!"

Electivire once again placed his tails on the ground as Clemont asked, "What's Ash trying to do? Won't that damage Infernape further?"

"Just see," was Dawn's reply, as everyone looked at the hole Infernape had just disappeared into.

"Now use, Flare Blitz!" Ash yelled out as loudly as he could. As soon as he said that, the whole battlefield, which had been glowing yellow, turned bright red and heated up considerably, as the spectators stepped back to escape from the heat. The crackling electricity in the battlefield seemed to disappear as though it was burnt down due to the heat.

"What's going on?" Clemont yelled, looking shocked at the disappearing electricity, and voicing others' thoughts as well.

"It looks like Flare Blitz canceled out the effects of the Electric Terrain." Brock replied to Clemont's question, looking back at them for a brief moment.

The battlefield soon stopped glowing as Infernape jumped out of the hole and stood in the field, looking confident. He looked fine except a little paralyzed. Meanwhile, Electivire had taken some damage due to the heat and the Flare Blitz and he was standing in front of Infernape. He gave a determined grin which was returned. Paul and Ash exchanged a smirk as well.

"Maybe, I shouldn't have underestimated you even a little as I did." Ash said.

Paul kept his smirk, as he yelled, "Use Giga Impact!"

"Use Flare Blitz!"

Another explosion occurred as the two attacks collided and the two pokémon were thrown back by the impact. Infernape suddenly flinched for a moment and held his shoulder tight.

 _Apparently, Electivire managed to hit Infernape on the shoulder, even though not directly._ Max thought, staring hard at the fire-type pokémon. He was watching the battle more closely than others, for he wanted to be a strong trainer and defeat everyone – including his role model, Ash.

"Use Thunder Punch!"

"What the…!"

The thunder punch connected with Infernape's stomach as he was thrown back with it. The others were staring at Ash, wondering what made him exclaim like that and why he didn't ask Infernape to dodge.

"Just how many moves Electivire knows?" Ash asked, amazed.

"Why are you so amazed?" Misty asked him.

"Don't all pokémon use only four moves?" Ash asked back. Paul simply closed his eyes, as he waited for their chat to end.

"What do you mean? Don't you know that you can use any number of moves while battling the Kalos Elite Four?"

"What?! It is like that?!"

Everyone, except Paul, fell down animé-style as Cilan said, "Typical Ash!"

Brock got up and asked, "You didn't read the rules of the League, did you?"

"The rules are always the same. It's too boring to read them all, again and again."

"We should have known," Serena said. "Well, it states that if you win the league and challenge the Elite Four, you wouldn't have any limit on the number of moves your pokémon use."

"Well then, thanks," Ash said, and then turned towards his partner. "You heard that Pikachu? Now, we can attack with everything we've got. Once this battle ends, let's go train and we can work on your Volt Tackle."

"What a kid!" Iris said, sighing, as Clemont looked amazed.

"Volt Tackle?! Isn't that supposed to be a Raichu's move?" Clemont exclaimed.

"Oh yeah," Ash replied, looking at Clemont with a reminiscent smile. "But Pikachu learned it. Isn't that right, buddy?"

"Pika!"

"Are you done talking?" Paul asked finally, opening his eyes and looking at them all.

"Of course, now let's return to the battle. Infernape, use flamethrower!"

"Use thunder!"

The attacks were about to hit when suddenly a voice ordered, "Serperior, use Leaf Storm!"

A huge tornado of spinning leaves appeared right in between the two fire and electric-type attacks and a huge explosion occurred between the three attacks, covering the entire area with smoke. Everyone covered their eyes and started coughing as the same voice said, "Remember me, Ash?"

The smoke cleared as everyone turned towards the source of the voice. Ash, Cilan, Iris and Dawn recognized the person at once as they all exclaimed together, "Trip!"

"What are you doing here?" Ash asked, for a while surprisingly completely forgetting about his ongoing battle with Paul.

"What do you think I am here for?" Trip shot back. "Of course, to battle!"

He gave his signature smirk which was returned by Ash. Paul had a blank look on his face but he was seething for having his 'revenge' battle interrupted, that too after waiting for so long. Meanwhile, the rest had turned towards Iris and Cilan as they explained about the Unova rival.

"And you should have seen how he used to walk with his nose in the air and a smirk plastered on his face like this," Iris said, imitating the Unova trainer fairly well.

"Though he could have changed," Dawn said, looking at him and Ash talking to each other. How Ash forgot the battle she didn't know but she knew that they would battle again someday.

"Let's go Electivire. We aren't going to be battling any time soon." Paul said and walked towards the lab, with Electivire following him. Seeing the two go, Infernape sat down and sighed, knowing that he would get to battle later.

"Pika!" Infernape turned to see Pikachu and Serperior standing behind him with smiles on their faces. Infernape smiled back and stood up as they all went to the other pokémon to introduce the grass-type Serperior.

"Well, it was a great battle." Max said, nodding his head. "There are so many things for me to work on."

"Like?" Bonnie asked, suddenly appearing beside him. He jumped aside in surprise and then sighed.

"Why do you always scare me like that?" He asked.

Bonnie simply shrugged, then asked, "What things were you saying about right now that you needed to learn? All I could see was Ash battling like always."

"Oh that," Max said thoughtfully. "Well, first is that, I have never seen Ash panic when in a battle. I always seem to get worked up and somehow get panicked as well, even when I have only had practice battles with the people in my hometown. Second is that, I would love to plan out strategies on-the-go like Ash does. He never plans anything – just go on the battlefield and surprise everyone with all kinds of out-of-the-box strategies – that's how he has always worked. Plus, it would mean that no one could depend on their data about me because I would be creating new strategies while battling."

He was about to continue when they were interrupted. "Eevee!"

The two looked down to see the small newly-hatched Eevee cub, sitting in front of Bonnie and pawing at her feet. Bonnie picked the normal-type pokémon up and started hugging and petting it. Max couldn't help but wonder how she managed to create a bond in such a short time. It hadn't even been 12 hours and Eevee was already craving for her companionship.

"You love it?" He asked her with a smile.

She looked back at him and nodded with a cute blush. "Of course I do. I am going to make sure I take care of Eevee just like I cared about Dedenne, isn't that right, Dedenne?"

"Dede!" The electric-type exclaimed as it popped out of its bag.

"That's nice," the two heard Serena say, as they turned towards her. Serena bent up to Bonnie's eye level as she said, "Don't worry Bonnie. If you ever happen to go anywhere, you can ask my Eevee to take care of yours. You will also take care of it, won't you Eevee?"

"Eevee!" The Eevee said, appearing beside her trainer.

"And of course," Serena said, straightening up and looking straight at May and her Glaceon, who were talking about something. "May's Glaceon will also take care of Eevee, if you want."

"Glaceon is the ice-type evolution of Eevee, isn't it?" Bonnie asked.

"Yup, it is." Max answered, as he too looked at his sister.

"Why don't you go and ask her, Bonnie? I know she wouldn't mind it a bit." Serena said. Bonnie nodded and ran off to May to ask her and her Glaceon to help take care of her Eevee, as Serena and Max looked on.

"You do care about her, don't you?" Max turned towards Serena, who had a knowing smile on her face. He felt his cheeks heat up as he replied, "Maybe. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason at all." Serena gave another smile as she walked away to others, who had already gathered around May to see what she was trying out.

Max sighed and shook his head. _Do I really like her so much that it has become so obvious? Who knows?_

Meanwhile, in the bushes, a few hundred yards away from where everyone was, Jake and Sadie, the two new Rocket recruits, were keeping an eye on them.

"You know what I just realized? It will get difficult for us to keep an eye on them if they split up. After all, it's only the two of us." Sadie said, looking at Jake.

He looked back at her as he replied, "That's where the bugs come in. We can easily spy on them and decide whom to follow."

"That reminds me. Those aren't the old models, are they? If they are, those electric-types will easily be able to sense them."

"They aren't. They are specially made so that only a sharp-eyed person or pokémon can see them – after all, they are so small and covered with that special metal powder."

"Yeah, that's true. It was so difficult to fix them in the dark. Well, what do you suppose we should do in case they do split up in groups? – which I see inevitable right now."

"Can't say I can think of a good idea," Jake replied after a moment of thinking. "All I can think of is we become a part of them."

"What?! You mean to say we are going to work, with them keeping an eye on us and with the risk of them discovering our true mission?"

"I said that that's the only idea I could think of – not that we are going to follow it right now. But, it could be useful in case they discover the microphones."

"I guess." Sadie paused for a while, before saying, "Do you think we should catch more pokémon? All of them seem so strong. You saw that small battle, didn't you?"

"I don't think we would need to – at least not right now." Jake replied, after another thoughtful pause. "We can still use our combination attacks."

Sadie nodded, as another thought occurred to her. She said, "Why don't you go there and do something about those fingerprints?"

Jake looked at her in the eye as she gave him a knowing smirk. He smirked back as he said, "Sure. Let me just take that invisible ink and the fingerprint mould and I'll leave."

He took hold of a small bottle of invisible ink and a white-colored mold and started walking away from the group of Ash and his friends. After what he thought was enough distance between them, he released Dragonite and climbed on his back. "Let's go there, Dragonite."

Dragonite, knowing what its trainer was talking about, took off at once. Sadie saw them and wished them luck silently as her thoughts returned to their missions. _I still don't understand why we are going to such lengths to make sure he doesn't interrupt. How can a kid like him be a threat to us? All he looks interested in is pokémon. He doesn't even notice that honey-blonde having a crush on him. Besides, what are we going to do by assembling a radio telescope in the middle of nowhere? I wish he wouldn't hide the reasons behind such actions. All he keeps on telling us is that we are doing it for a good cause and we will know the cause once we finish our missions. I hope it isn't anything wrong or I won't be able to forgive myself._

* * *

 **That small battle between Ash and Paul was the first time I tried writing out a pokémon battle. How do you like it? If you find any mistakes, don't hesitate to point them out to me. And once again Thank you everyone for your support!**


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

 ** _Police Station, Viridian City, Kanto_**

"Bring those fingerprints we found in that observatory!" An officer ordered as another brought him a mold. The mold looked like it was carved in, very detailed, with hundreds of tiny lines circling towards its 'centre', the whole thing looking rather like a spiral – a fingerprint mold. The officers had found the fingerprints that day in the morning when they had gone to recheck the observatory for clues. It had come as a surprise to them, since the prints hadn't been there when they had last checked. They had made copies of the fingerprints and now they were about to check them.

"Here you go." The officer briskly handed the mold to the first one, who placed it in a device and started scanning through the trainers' database to see if there was a match. The trainers' database was a catalog of all the registered trainers, coordinators and performers who were going to participate or had already participated in leagues, contests and showcases.

After what seemed like hours, the fingerprint matched with someone they had least expected. The shock of seeing that name and face was so much, the officer who had been trying to find the match thought that he must be seeing things.

"Ash Ketchum," Officer Jenny said thoughtfully. She had been standing behind her subordinate for a while to see if she could see something that the others hadn't.

"But how is that even possible? He isn't even an adult yet." Another officer burst out, shocked at the revelation.

"And he has just won the Kalos League. Why would he throw something like that down the drain by doing something underhanded?" Still another one asked.

"I think you are just letting your imagination run wild." Officer Jenny said, looking up from the screen. "Don't forget that we found the prints today and not yesterday. It's strange how they appeared out of nowhere. Of course, we will have to look into this but don't jump to conclusions unless you have the proof."

"So, what are we going to do?" The officer, who had been sitting at the screen, asked.

"I don't think we should arrest him. I, for one, know that his heart is full of love for pokémon and people, both. I remember meeting him in the Viridian Pokémon Centre, when his Pikachu was injured."

"But things do change. Who know he might have change?" came the doubtful reply.

"I doubt he would have changed much, if anything at all. Besides, we won't get an arrest warrant easily for he is a League winner. All we can do is, get him for questioning and check if he has an alibi to confirm where he had been last night."

"Well, let's go then."

"Yeah, we'll need only two officers. I'll be accompanying you. We'll see what we can do. Besides, I still need to talk about that break-in at the professor's lab." Officer Jenny said, as she strode out the door, followed by two of her officers.

 ** _Pallet Town, Kanto_**

"Finally!" May exclaimed as she lied down on the grass, tired from her continuous training. She was trying to perfect a combination with her Blaziken and Glaceon that Dawn had suggested with Serena tweaking it with some basic, yet interesting ideas. The whole training was to help the Princess of Hoenn to complete and perfect the fire-and-ice combination that she had decided to use in that year's Sinnoh Contests. She had already competed in Kanto and Johto, but now she had decided to go for Sinnoh.

"You want to battle?" The three girls turned towards the source of the question to see Trip looking at Paul with his signature smirk plastered on his face. It seemed like he had challenged Paul to a battle.

Paul looked him up and down, then grunted and turned, as he walked away from him, apparently deciding him to be an unworthy challenger. Trip's expression darkened at his response as his smirk disappeared, replaced with an angry expression. "You really think you are that strong, hotshot? Let's battle it out."

Paul stopped and looked back. He had never been the one to back out of any challenge. He closed his eyes and smirked. "Alright then, let's do it."

"What's going on?" Ash asked, appearing behind Trip with his partner sitting on his shoulder, both of them looking curious. He didn't need an answer though – he could see what was about to ensue by seeing the glances exchanged by his two rivals.

The two trainers stood at the opposite sides of the field, as Trip let out his trusty partner, Serperior. Paul threw a pokéball as well, as his Ninjask appeared on the battlefield. The two pokémon looked each other down as their trainers exchanged determined glances, once again. The others gathered around the field, excited to see another battle.

"Alright Serperior," Trip started, but the sound of police sirens interrupted him. Mad at being interrupted, he turned towards the police car as everyone saw Officer Jenny come up to them, looking grim.

"Is something wrong, Officer Jenny?" Ash asked, looking ready to help as ever.

"Have you found something about the break-in?" Gary asked restlessly, earning shocked glances from everyone. Noticing them, Gary cursed himself, wishing he had opened his mouth later.

"What break-in are you talking about?" Iris asked concernedly.

"Well, you see," Jessie started, "someone broke in at the lab in that room where you had kept all your pokéballs."

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed. Hearing the commotion, Professor Oak and Delia, who had been inside the lab facility, came out. Seeing the police officer, the two came up to them, as Ash asked worriedly, "Was anything stolen?"

"What happened, officer?" Delia asked.

"Is it something about the break-in?" Professor Oak asked.

"Nothing was stolen, Ash." Gary replied to Ash's question as Officer Jenny turned towards him.

"I think we might have found something, Professor Oak, but," Officer Jenny glanced at Ash as she continued, "we might need someone. Are you coming to the Police Station?"

Everyone was shocked, thinking that the officer was hinting that Ash was to be arrested.

"What did I do to end up in prison?" Ash asked shakily, for once appearing unsure of himself.

"Huh? No, I mean we'll need you for questioning." Officer Jenny replied.

"You aren't going to take Ash anywhere, not until you tell us the reason." Delia replied firmly, as she brought her hand in front of Ash, as if protecting him from danger.

"We can't tell you the reason here. Come to the Police Station if you want to know." Officer Jenny replied plainly, as she waited for Ash.

Ash considered his decision. He knew he hadn't done anything for the time he had been there at the lab, along with others and that he was never alone and by himself. The others would explain that. All that was needed to clean up this mess was to go with Officer Jenny and explain everything.

Finally deciding, he stepped in front of his mother's arm as he said, "Let's go."

Everyone's jaws dropped at his decision, as he started walking towards the officer.

"Are you sure?" Cilan asked doubtfully.

"I am. I guess it's the only way to clean up this mess."

"Well then, you are not going alone. I will come as well." Everyone turned towards Serena, who had spoken. She had a determined look on her face, as she started walking towards Ash. Ash couldn't help but smile as he waited for her to catch up.

"And maybe the Oaks should come as well." Officer Jenny stated, as Serena reached Ash. The two Oaks knew that she would want to talk about the break-in that, somehow, was related to Ash, so they joined Ash and Serena who had already started walking towards the two cars standing on the side of the road.

As they all walked away, the others exchanged glances, before nodding firmly. They weren't going to let Ash go through this mess alone. The cars had already left and there wasn't any other means of transport with them, unless they used their flying-type pokémon. They looked at their pokémon, as they contemplated if they should go on them or not. Misty had her Gyarados, but she wasn't sure if it could fly well enough or long enough for them to reach Viridian City. The only other pokémon that could fly and act as transport vehicles to them were Dawn's Togekiss, Iris's Dragonite, and Ash's Staraptor and Charizard. Instead of riding them, they decided to run all the way there. They exchanged glances again and nodded.

All of them started running, before Delia interrupted them with concern, "Take care of yourselves as well, okay?"

They nodded and resumed running, knowing it would take them about a quarter of an hour to reach the outskirts of the city.

Meanwhile, in the police car, Ash and Serena were quiet, thinking about their situation. Professor Oak and Gary were in the other car that was following them.

"So, what's all this about?" Ash finally asked, not able to contain himself anymore. "Why am I needed for questioning?"

There was silence for a while, only cut by the muffled sound of the wheels on the road, as Officer Jenny considered how much to tell him. She finally started, "Well, have you heard of the raid on the newly-constructed observatories in Kanto?"

"What?! What happened?" Ash exclaimed as Serena's head snapped to the officer, both of them listening attentively.

"There are two observatories in the south of Kanto and two new have been constructed on the east and west recently. These observatories are used for space and astronomical research by the scientists, like finding planets other than ours in the universe and the like, by using the satellites revolving around our planet. Recently, some unknown people have raided all of them – the old ones and the new ones both. We went to check for clues and all but found nothing, not even the captured scientists. Whenever we reached there, the whole place was always deserted – shrouded with deadly, suffocating silence."

A shiver went down both the teens' backs as the officer continued grimly. "When we went to the first raid site, we sent quite a lot of officers in there to go and have a look, and capture anyone found there. So far, none of them has come back. Every time, someone went inside, all we heard was light sounds of scuffling – that's it. No one came back. It is as if there is some unknown spirit residing in there that doesn't let people escape. It has already struck fears in everyone's minds and so now, no one is willing to go and check the other raid sites completely."

Silence prevailed as Ash and Serena let the information seep in their minds, shivers running up and down their spines. They didn't know all of this had been happening while they were enjoying themselves and celebrating. A thought occurred to Ash as he said, "But what has that got to do with me?"

Both the teens waited for the officer to speak, as they sat at the edge of their seats, waiting for the answer. The officer answered, "We didn't go inside the rest of the observatories after the disappearance of our officers during our first mission, but we keep checking for clues outside the facilities, especially the doors and the foyers at the immediate entrance. What we found today on all of the doors was your fingerprints, Ash."

"What?!" Serena exclaimed.

"Bu-bu-but how?" Ash stuttered. "I was with the others all the time. Isn't that right, Serena?"

"Of course," Serena said with assurance. "I can give my word for that. As far as I remember, Ash was never alone ever since we came back from Kalos."

"And there's no way I could travel all that distance in one night alone." Ash said.

"I know that," the officer said, earning surprised glances from the two teens. "And I can't believe Ash could have done something like that, not after your first impression on me at the Viridian Pokémon Centre, six years ago. You do remember blasting off that annoying trio, don't you, Ash?"

"You remember me?" Ash asked, surprised.

"Of course. Not many civilians help the police, you know. And that too, without expecting anything from us."

Ash scratched the back of his head as he gave an embarrassed grin. He didn't know he was one of the very few people that helped police – not that he had ever thought of it either. Serena looked confused, but she knew one thing – that whatever it had been, Ash had helped in it, with his usual helping attitude shining through. She decided to ask about it later. Instead, she decided to focus on the problem on hand.

"So how did the fingerprints appear there?" She asked curiously and worriedly. She didn't want Ash to end up in trouble for something he didn't do.

"That's the strangest part." The officer replied thoughtfully. "When we had checked for anything earlier, there was nothing – no marks, no prints, no stains, nothing. The whole door looked plain smooth as though it had just been polished. And then, when we checked this morning, the handle of the door was covered with fingerprints. We checked them in the record of registered trainers and they matched with yours, Ash."

"Well, that's really strange." Serena murmured thoughtfully.

"And what's even stranger," the officer continued, "is that when we brought one of the best chemists in the city to check if any strange reaction had occurred, he checked it thoroughly and told us that the prints were printed with the help of some kind of invisible ink. This special ink was made such that it wouldn't show at all, unless you use the special powder that shows up fingerprints."

"But that sounds stupid." Ash said looking at the officer in the mirror. "I mean, who would do something that would look so obvious that it has been done by someone else, other than the one person who is their target?"

"We wondered that as well, when we were on our way to your home." The officer said, staring at the road ahead of them. "But we didn't find any foot prints or anything near the door. The grass near it didn't look trampled at all. Instead, it looked quite fresh, with the morning dew dripping from the leaves. It is as if the prints appeared out of thin air. The worst part is I don't think we could find any interesting clue, unless we go inside the observatories to see what has been going on."

"But you could have gone. Why didn't you?" Serena asked skeptically. She knew that Officer Jennies were known for their bravery and their ability to keep calm in any situation, unless it looked like a hopeless one.

"I want to go inside, but no one else is willing to come along. I'd rather not go without having some kind of backup plan, in case something happens and I need to transfer whatever information I have quickly."

"Now that sounds like Clemont's job." Both the teens said in unison. They looked at each other and started laughing. Officer Jenny couldn't help but smile as she sensed a spark between the two.

By this time, they had crossed the outskirts of Viridian City. In a few minutes, both the cars were standing in front of the Police Station. All of them got out and went inside. The Oaks tried to give Ash a reassuring glance, thinking that he might be worried, but were surprised to see a thoughtful expression on his face.

 _Ashy-boy thinking so hard?_ Gary thought to himself, astonished. _Ash actually thinking? That can't be true! Hmmm… well, I guess nothing is impossible._

They went inside as all the other subordinates and constables looked up from their works. Seeing that it was Ash and his friends, they stared at their senior questioningly. Officer Jenny didn't look back at anyone. She simply went into another room behind the first one, as everyone followed her. Once everyone was seated, she stood in front of them, staring at the ground pensively.

"So what about the break-in?" Professor Oak asked.

"And how is it related to Ashy-boy?" Gary put in.

"Don't call me that!" Ash yelled at him, completely fed up of that name.

Officer Jenny was about to start, when Serena interrupted, "I think you should wait for others to come. I remember them running after us, as we left for here."

"The others are coming too?" Ash asked, surprised at the revelation. Serena nodded in response. Officer Jenny ordered some water for them, as they all decided to wait for the others to come.

 ** _Pallet Town, Kanto_**

"I hope Ash will be fine." Delia's voice was heard from a speaker, as Jake and Sadie listened to it carefully.

"Mime Mr. Mime," her partner pokémon said, trying to reassure her.

"I know, Mimey. There's no way Ash could have done something that brings the police here. I wonder how he's holding up right now. I hope he'll be fine."

Sadie cut off the connection with the bugs as Jake said, "Well, it looks like the fingerprints did their job. Not that I am too optimistic about the result; they can easily figure out something weird about all that – after all, fingerprints can't appear out of thin air."

"Yeah. Do you think we should let the HQ know about completion of our main missions?" Sadie asked, looking at him.

"I think we should." Jake replied as he put through a call to the HQ.

 ** _Team Rocket Headquarters, Kanto_**

"Who is it?" Giovanni asked his assistant. He was petting his pet Persian as usual.

"It's Jake and Sadie." The assistant replied.

"Those two new recruits? Pick up the call." Giovanni ordered as he turned towards the hologram that appeared and showed the two on their knee, looking down.

"What is it? Are you done?" He asked the two, as he stopped petting his Persian and waited for their answer.

"Yes, we are done. We also built one at the north; only one because we didn't find any extra parts to make another." Jake said.

"That's fine. One is enough, as long as it points in the right direction. All we've got to do is, wait for the satellites to come up."

"We have a question, boss." Sadie started hesitantly, exchanging glances with her partner, who gave an imperceptible nod.

"What is it?"

"You told us we're doing it for a good cause. Can you tell us what the good cause is?"

Giovanni's face darkened slightly, as he asked in an unquestionable voice, "Why do you want to know?"

"Well…" Sadie started, bringing her index fingers together and playing with them. "You see, I love pokémon and I don't want anything to happen to them while we do all this."

Giovanni's face darkened even more, as he realized that the girl shared the same trait with Ash when it came to pokémon. If he told them the truth, there was a huge possibility that she would want to separate from the Team Rocket – and he wasn't willing to let go of such useful recruits; not until he was done using them for his main purpose.

He looked up to them as he said, "All I will tell right now is that nothing is going to happen to any pokémon, if our plan is successful. I will tell you the cause, once we start with the plan."

"But boss, why do you need to hide…?" Sadie started, but the connection was cut off by the assistant. Giovanni returned to petting Persian, who had been waiting impatiently for the call to end.

"Why didn't you tell them?" The assistant asked, as she stood beside him.

"That girl," Giovanni started, "has the same trait I hate so much. She'll go to any length to stop me if she realizes that our plan may lead to death of a few pokémon. That boy seems to agree with her as well. If they came to know about this, they will probably separate from us. They have been quite useful to us so far and I am not willing to let them go so easily. If they separated and went to police, we might get charged with murder."

"But you could have given them a little hint or something – like a harbinger to what is to come."

"Don't forget that they are more – in fact, _way_ more – intelligent than those three idiots I kicked out. They can easily reach to the conclusion that there's more to it than I have been telling."

"So… I guess you have been using the fact that she has been completely alone all her life, to our advantage."

"That's right. It was a good thing there was no one to guide her. I don't look forward to brainwashing any of my subordinates if I can help _and_ if they harbor the feeling of hate towards the world. My job is only to use those feelings to my advantage, while making those people trust my way of dealing with everyone."

"But we had to brainwash that boy, isn't that right?"

"Yeah, we had to. He wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble, if he had agreed with us in the first place. But now, I'm not so sure. It seems like her love for pokémon has started to affect him and is starting to bring back his memories. So long as he doesn't recall them all, we will be able to use him."

 ** _Pallet Town, Kanto_**

"What do you make of that?" Sadie asked, staring at the blank hologram. They had just been asking their boss, the reason they were doing so many missions, but the boss had disconnected halfway through their conversation.

Jake shrugged his shoulders, as he shut down their Holo Caster and kept it in his bag. "I think he's hiding something we're not supposed to know."

Sadie sat back down, pensively thinking about their conversation with their boss. "What do you think he's trying to hide from us?"

"How do you think I am supposed to know? Would I have been sitting here doing nothing, if we knew?"

"How stupid of me! But honestly, why do you think he would try to hide it from us if it's a good cause?"

She got a shrug in response. Not having anything else to say, she lied down on her back, staring at the darkening sky, as Jake continued with writing whatever program he had been writing the night before. He had kept some kind of connection with the main server at the isolated telescope, so that he could type whenever and wherever he wanted to.

"How long is that programming going to take?" Sadie asked, breaking the silence once again. The pokémon and everyone, they had been keeping an eye on, had left the field with all the teenagers running towards the police station in Viridian City. Not having any desire to follow them, the two had gone away from them in the forest and contacted their boss to report their progress.

"Not much, if I keep on typing like today. Probably around two to three days." Jake answered her question, as he got up for a while to stretch himself.

"Wasn't it going to take you longer?"

"It was. But there wasn't any need to keep an eye on them all the time; they were too busy with their celebrations to notice anything else. I wish you would have helped me though; it is too much of a strain to type it all out myself."

"I would if I could, but since I don't know programming, I can't." She paused, got up and stretched herself, as she continued, "I guess I must start with making dinner now."

"Well at least you can make delicious food."

"Thanks; glad you like it."

 ** _Viridian City Outskirts, Kanto_**

"Guys, wait for me!" Clemont exclaimed, panting with the exertion he had been putting himself through. They had just reached the outskirts of Viridian City. While mostly everyone had run through the gates, Clemont was panting behind everyone, with Bonnie, Iris and Brock waiting for him.

"You are just too slow!" Bonnie chided him. "Just look, everyone has already left us behind."

"Well then, you guys don't wait for me. I will catch up with you later." Clemont said breathing hard as he caught up to them.

Bonnie and Iris acted up on his advice and ran ahead. Brock stood there with Clemont as he helped him up.

"Why did you wait for me? You could have gone ahead." Clemont said, catching his breath.

"I can't leave you alone. After all, you are my friend as well."

"Thanks. Let's go now. I don't want to miss anything." The two started running again, as Brock mentioned that they weren't too far from the police station.

Meanwhile, Iris and Bonnie were already halfway through the distance the two boys had to travel yet. Iris didn't feel tired at all; the same was with Bonnie. The two of them had more energy than others, so they could run long distances without tiring out.

"Is Clemont really that unfit? No offense, but he seems to tire out rather easily." Iris said, glancing at Bonnie.

"He's so obsessed with inventions; he doesn't pay attention to his health at all. He doesn't participate in any sport either, so I guess it makes sense he isn't that fit."

Iris resumed looking forward, but this time thoughtfully. Bonnie spoke again as they turned a corner, "You don't seen tired at all either; are you tired?"

"Nope. You see, I grew up in the forest and I loved jumping from branch to branch, using the hanging vines. I spent every day most of my childhood like that, so I guess I am quite fit."

"I see," Bonnie paused, turning the gears of her mind. She continued, "I know! Why don't you train my brother to be faster than he is? Make him do something – anything that pulls him away from his inventions and makes him active."

Iris sweat-dropped as she said, "But don't you think that would be pretty cruel on him, considering he has never really exercised much?"

"Nah, nothing is cruel for Clemont." Bonnie said, dismissing her doubt.

By this time, they had turned another corner, and they could see all the others waiting for them outside the police station. They were beckoning them and motioning them to hurry, as they started entering the premises.

Just as the two girls reached them, May, who was the last to enter, turned towards them and asked, "Where's Clemont and Brock? Weren't they with you?"

"They were," Bonnie said, "but Clemont was tired out, so Brock waited for him. I think they will catch up to us soon."

"May, Bonnie, Iris, come on, what are you doing standing there? Hurry!" Dawn yelled at them from inside, getting annoyed glances from the constables working there.

"Coming!" May yelled back. The three were about to run inside, but they were interrupted by the familiar panting of the inventor, as the two boys caught up to them.

"You're late! Now let's go." Bonnie berated her brother, as Brock hid a smile. He knew what it was to have a little sister, since he had two as well.

They all went inside and into the room where the rest were sitting, along with Officer Jenny checking some files. They had expected Ash to have a grim look on his face, but they were surprised to see him looking expectantly towards the officer.

The officer looked up as everyone seated themselves behind and beside Ash, Serena and the Oaks, completely filling up the room. After certain that everyone had seated themselves comfortably, she got straight to the point and explained to them, what she had to Ash and Serena in the car.

Gary interrupted her as soon as she finished explaining that part of the case. "But you still haven't explained how all that's related with the break-in at the lab."

Ash and the others looked just as concerned and interested as he did. Officer Jenny closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them and looking straight at Clemont as she said, "You are Clemont, right?"

"Uh… yeah." Clemont said hesitantly, wondering why he was picked up or what had made the officer do it.

"And you are an aspiring inventor, am I right?"

Clemont nodded as Gary looked fed up. He was about to interrupt the officer again, when Misty, who was sitting behind him, put her hand across his mouth and pulled him back.

"Tell me one thing," the officer said, "Considering the technology now, do you think it is possible to fake fingerprints?"

Clemont looked pensive, as he thought of all the different inventions and devices he had heard of so far. Finally looking up, he said, "It's possible if you have a fingerprint sample and a special device that uses gamma radiation to scan it. Since gamma is very high frequency radiation, it cannot be stopped easily. The more you expose it to an object, the more the object absorbs it and the more its formation changes at atomic level. In short, if you have a detector that can recognize even a tiny change in the absorption of the gamma radiation, you have pretty much a copy of that fingerprint. All you have got to do is put it in a 3D printer, and you can leave a clue and make it look like it wasn't you, but someone else."

"What's all this 'gamma, gamma' you were talking about?" Bonnie muttered under her breath.

"It's a kind of radiation," Max said suddenly, freaking her out.

"What radiation?" Bonnie asked, for once feeling intrigued.

While Max started to explain to her about all that, Officer Jenny closed her eyes, as she thought about what Clemont had said. The others waited expectantly, hoping Ash would be cleared of this mess.

Finally, after a minute of turning over the case in her mind, Officer Jenny opened her eyes, as she turned towards Meowth and started, "Didn't you say that there was a pokéball rolling on the floor when you had gone to check for the intruder?"

Meowth nodded slowly, realizing where this was going. James realized that as well. Even though, he hadn't been there on the spot, he could imagine quite easily what could have happened.

"So you mean to say," he started, gaining everyone's attention. "That that pokéball was used to make a copy of the owner's fingerprints – in this case, Ash – right?"

"I can't say it is the truth since we'd need some kind of proof, but it is a more plausible possibility than Ash doing something that crazy."

"And it kinda makes sense," Gary said thoughtfully. "After all, the intruder didn't steal anything."

"It seems that Ash's going to need some time to get out of this predicament." Iris said considerately.

"Yeah, but it isn't completely hopeless one," Serena said broodingly. "It seems like Ash was set up. After all, why would someone go to the extent of getting a copy of his fingerprints?"

 _It seems like I underestimated your intelligence._ Officer Jenny thought to herself. _It's almost like you guys are on the case, instead of the police._

"I know!" Ash exclaimed suddenly, scaring everyone for a second with his loud voice. He turned towards the officer as he asked, "How about all of us helping you catch him?"

"But I don't think I should let you in charge completely." Officer Jenny pondered for a while, before coming up with a decision. "I'll let you help me on the condition that you will report to me every new clue that you find."

"It's fine with me. How about you guys?" Ash asked turning towards his friends.

"It's fine with us as well." Brock said, getting enthusiastic nods from everyone.

"Alright then, let's get him." Ash yelled. Everyone shouted out their approvals, punching the air above them, Ash's enthusiasm infecting them as well, as they all left the police station behind.

* * *

 **The explanation of Clemont about using gamma radiation has no background research from my side. I practically wrote it from whatever I knew about science, so of course it could be entirely wrong.**

 **My externals are going to start soon and they will end somewhere in mid-January, so I will probably be busy until then, unless I get the time to write. Hope you don't mind about the delay. Thanks!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I am back, everyone, with another chapter for you to read. This is a rather short one, since I wrote it as fast as I could to publish it sooner; I didn't want to delay that any longer. Quite a few things happen here, read it to find out.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 12

"So… where do we start?" Max asked out loud, voicing everyone's thought. They were all walking down the now-familiar path to Pallet Town, leaving Viridian City behind.

"I guess we never really thought of that, did we?" Dawn said, sweat-dropping.

Everyone sighed at their own forgetfulness. A thought occurred to Meowth as he said, "Hey, that cloth the officer had found; wasn't that a part of Team Rocket uniform?"

"WHAT?!" Everyone, except Gary and the trio, cried out, shocked at the revelation.

"Are you trying to tell us that this has something to do with Team Rocket?" Ash asked; his tone of voice suddenly sober.

"Can't be sure about that," Jessie said, shrugging her shoulders.

"I think we can." Gary said thoughtfully.

"You don't seem too surprised, son." Professor Oak said, looking at his grandson curiously.

"Huh? No, did you forget that I was there when Jessie and Meowth showed us that the cloth belonged to their old uniforms?"

"Oh, that's right. I guess my memory is really weakening with my age."

"You could have told us, Gary." Brock said, looking at the young researcher somberly.

"I guess it escaped my mind for the moment; sorry."

"So," James started slowly. "What were you trying to say by telling us we can be sure it's Team Rocket?"

"Hadn't you guys said," Gary asked, turning towards Jessie and Meowth, "that the cloth surely belongs to Team Rocket uniform?"

"Yeah, so?"

Gary paused again, thinking things over in his mind. Everyone waited for him to think as they all walked down the dusty trail. He finally continued, "Do you still have that torn cloth?"

"Yeah, I do." Meowth said, holding the cloth for everyone to see.

"Have you kept your uniforms – those Team Rocket ones?"

"Not actually kept; we had to use them in our torn balloon." James said.

"But they would be intact till now, wouldn't they?"

"Well yeah," Jessie said, exchanging glances with her teammates. "They always had high durability, so they must be in one piece."

"Can you get them now? I want to show you all something."

"Now, when it's almost night?" The three asked, fearfully looking at the black forest surrounding them on either side. "Can't we go first thing tomorrow morning?"

"I'd rather not waste too much time to show you this. We want to get out of this mess as fast as we can."

"Not only that," Ash suddenly said, interrupting them. He had been listening half-heartedly to their conversation, while he contemplated his options. He continued, "It's time we do something about Team Rocket as well."

The others looked at him in disbelief, as they let his statement seep in their minds.

"Are you serious? Or have you gone out of your mind?" Misty asked disbelievingly.

"I am serious. Team Rocket must have already done so many things other than always trying to steal our pokémon. Isn't that right?" He directed the last question to the trio of ex-members. The three looked thoughtful, as they brooded over Ash's words.

"It's true," James finally said, looking back at everyone. "We were the subordinates, so we don't know what really happened, but we know for sure that everyone was given the job of stealing any pokémon that looked strong or was rare."

"We were never fortunate enough to see any legendary pokémon up close like you guys." Jessie continued. "But we know that they have tried to catch a legendary pokémon in the past. You do remember about Lugia, don't you?"

"So, are you thinking of taking down Team Rocket?" Meowth asked with bated breath. He was eager to prove to his ex-boss that they weren't as useless as he had thought of them. Of course, they would need some help, but it would be worth it if Team Rocket was taken down and the world freed from an impending doom.

"I am not thinking; I have decided." Ash replied decisively. Everyone's jaws dropped; this wasn't the Ash they were familiar with – the determination was familiar, the sober mood wasn't.

A loud growl interrupted them. Ash sweat-dropped and rubbed his stomach. "I have decided – but after dinner, I guess."

Everyone fell down animé-style, wondering how they had been so stupid to think Ash could change so suddenly. Ash gave an embarrassed laugh and scratched the back of his head.

"Let's go." Serena said, as everyone got up. _I guess some things never change._

They soon reached Pallet Town and went to the lab, since it had more space for everyone to move. Delia appeared at the door to answer their knock.

"What happened?" She asked, disturbed to see Ash's sober mood.

"We can clear all this mess." May said, to her relief. "but it'll take some time."

"Well, at least you are all back home, safe and sound."

"Mom! I'm hungry!" Ash yelled out loud, as he appeared in front of his mother. She put her hands on her ears as he yelled, then nodded with a smile and headed inside to prepare dinner.

 _If I know my son well,_ she thought, _he would probably want to try and do something about it as soon as possible. I just hope he comes back home safe and sound._

Everyone walked inside and sat down in the living room, as they waited for dinner to be ready. Gary still looked thoughtful, as he sat beside Misty, who seemed to be staring at the ground for some reason. After a while, he shook his head and sighed as though he had given up on something he had put his head to.

Hearing him sigh, Cilan, who was standing in front of him with his back to the wall, looked at him as he asked, "What were you going to show us, Gary?"

Gary stared at the ground again for a while, as if he hadn't heard him. Cilan was about to repeat his question, when Gary sighed. "I _had_ wanted to show you something. But it seems like I hadn't thought it out completely. I thought I could prove it was Team Rocket's doing, after all."

"But it _is_ Team Rocket's doing, isn't it?" Misty asked, looking at him. "You said it yourself that Jessie proved that Team Rocket was involved, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I mean it was a part of Team Rocket's uniform after all." Jessie said, agreeing with Misty, as they all stared at Gary.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Gary asked. "You are forgetting that the cloth is a part of Team Rocket's uniform; isn't it easy to get your hands on that uniform – if you know the right place?"

"It isn't as easy as you think it to be." James said, shaking his head. "We usually ordered our clothes from the HQ – kept a stock of them in case we needed them."

"But didn't you say that you clothes were durable?" Gary shot back. "How come is it that the cloth was torn so easily, if it was a part of durable fabric?"

"In case you don't know," Jessie said, suddenly narrowing her eyes, "nothing is perfect."

"Uh…" Gary sweat-dropped. He said, "I do know. But what has that got to do with this?"

James sighed, as he explained, "What she means is that even thought the cloth was durable, due to its continuous use, it used to wear down so much that it could easily be torn even with bare hands."

"You could have simply explained that." Gary said, staring at Jessie, who looked back somewhat indifferently.

"I still don't understand who made you a researcher." Ash muttered in a low voice.

Unfortunately for him, Gary heard him, as he got up fiercely and stomped his way to his old rival. Ash took a step back and brought his hands up, feeling slightly intimidated by the look in Gary's eyes. "If you really think you are so intelligent, why don't you do all my research while I take up your never-ending journey?"

Ash was about to retort back, when Iris stepped in between them and pushed them away from each other. "Relax guys, fighting with each other isn't going to help."

The two boys looked at her, sighed and apologized to each other.

"Well, looks like it is detective time!" Cilan exclaimed, pulling out a detective hat and a magnifying glass out of nowhere.

"Where did you pull out that hat from?" Serena asked, pointing to the hat. Meanwhile, Bonnie looked fascinated by the magnifying glass. She was standing at a distance from the connoisseur and she could see Misty and Brock, who were standing on the other side of Cilan, upside down in the magnifying glass.

"Right, I didn't tell you," Cilan said, as Bonnie took the magnifying glass out of his hands. "I am not only an A-class detective connoisseur but also an A-class detective. This hat and magnifying glass are just accessories which give me the feeling of being a real detective."

"Now wouldn't you call that stupid?" Iris murmured in Serena's ear. "Why do you need them for 'feeling' like a real detective?"

Serena nodded slightly, so that only Iris could see it. They looked at the ground as their thoughts returned to their situation on hand.

"So what are we going to do?" May asked, voicing pretty much everyone's thoughts.

"Clemont, you never told me a magnifying glass can also see things upside down!" Bonnie said as they all turned towards her. She still had Cilan's magnifying glass in her hands. She pushed the glass in her brother's face as she further asked him to explain the fact to her.

"So it works like this," Clemont started, his glasses shining at the prospect of explaining one of his favorite topics. "The light rays from an object enter the lens…"

Clemont's explanation was interrupted with the sound of Bonnie's laughter. He looked where she was and sweat-dropped at the sight of his sister looking at Ash through the magnifying glass.

"Why do you even ask me when you don't even want to listen?" He yelled at her.

"What?" Bonnie asked, looking at her brother perplexed. It was like she hadn't asked the question in the first place.

Clemont sighed, as the others sweat-dropped. Maybe some things really never changed.

"Dinner is ready." Delia's voice came through the kitchen, as a mouth-watering smell entered the room. Everyone's mouths watered as they ran to the kitchen, letting the thoughts of their situation be suppressed by those of delicious food. Everyone forgot about the case as the thoughts were replaced by those of a comfortable sleep with a full stomach.

The next day, everyone woke up fairly early, earlier than usual, and got dressed, ready to put their brains to work.

"Hey Ash," Serena called to her crush, who was still munching on something. "Are you still sure about your decision to try and take down Team Rocket?"

She wasn't the only one worried about that decision though. The others had the same look on their faces as Brock asked, "Don't you think you should leave that job to the police?"

Ash swallowed his last bite as he gave them a determined look. "I am completely sure about this. There is no way I am letting them do whatever they want – the one and only thing they have been doing so far. They have harmed far more pokémon than we know and I am not going to let them do that anymore."

 _Pokémon, of course that would be your first thought._ Meowth thought. _But this is good. It can pretty much be said that Team Rocket is going down. If only three or four people can take down the other teams, what will they do against such a large group of people?_

 ** _Viridian Forest, Kanto_**

"…harmed far more pokémon than we know and I am not going to let them do that anymore." The sounds of chairs shuffling were heard as Jake switched off the speaker. He had just started it to check if anyone was there or not.

During the time when everyone was at the police station and Delia was at her home, the lab had remained empty. Since the security cameras hadn't been installed yet, the two had been easily able to go in undetected. The pokémon themselves had been too worried to notice anyone coming up and had seemed to be quietly discussing among themselves. There had been enough time for them to install wires in the whole building and they had done their job well. So, now, they could eavesdrop on the conversations in the lab as well, since most of the time, the trainers were spending their time at the facility.

"So, what do you think of that?" Sadie asked her partner, who had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"They seem to be talking about us – or Team Rocket, in general."

"I know that," came the impatient reply. "What do you think we should do now? For some reason, I think they are sharp enough to know that something fishy is going on here and they might find us."

"I doubt that; they don't have the slightest idea that we're here. What makes you think they are sharp enough?"

"How do you think they were able to take down the other five organizations?" Sadie shot back. Jake couldn't find a reply for that and kept silence. Sadie smirked, having proved her point.

"What do _you_ think we should do?" Jake asked her. She shrugged her shoulders and looked back at him. He looked thoughtful, as he asked, "How about we join forces with them?"

She looked at him as if he had gone mad and said something ridiculous, but he gave her a serious look back.

"Have you gone mad? Are you trying to tell me that you are going against boss?"

"No you idiot! I am saying that we should simply join them by telling them that we would help, while we would not only work with them, but also work on our own business."

"Something like a spy in the enemy camp?" A single nod was the response. "How do you think we are going to work with them keeping an eye on us?"

"They would probably think of us as allies – of course we would still run the risk of blowing our cover. But that can be taken care of – if we are just another couple of unfortunate victims of their enemy." Jake finished off with a smirk. Sadie could tell something was going on in his mind, as she responded with a similar smirk and a knowing look.

"Well then, all we need to do is act well enough to make them think we are victims and that we are willing to help them."

"Let's start then." Jake said, starting to pack up all their stuff. Sadie started helping him, though she still doubted if they would be successful or if they would be able to cover themselves up from them.

A while passed with nothing but silence pervading the area, as the two silently packed up all the equipment. Sadie broke the silence, as she asked, "Are you done with the programming?"

"Yeah, I completed it, earlier than I had expected." The conversation stopped and silence saturated the area once again.

In around another half an hour, the two finally looked up from their work, filling the last of their store in the huge bags they had brought. They were sweating with the exertion, although it was nothing they couldn't take care of.

"So what do you think we are going to do with this? No traveler travels around with this much stuff." Jake stated, looking at the two huge bags alongside their own travel bags.

"Don't worry about that," Sadie said, looking at her partner. "I know of a cave a few hundred meters away from here. It is well hidden with the bushes around it and is as large as the drawing room in the lab facility."

Jake nodded in reply as the two took hold of the large bags and hefted them, with the yellow-haired girl in the lead. In a few minutes, they were standing in front of what looked like a wall covered with foliage. Sadie kept on walking towards the wall and Jake was sure her face was going to be flattened with the force. Instead, the foliage seemed to open up as soon as she pushed against it and swallowed her completely, returning to its original position. Jake could only stand there and stare at the wall in surprise; this was the perfect place anyone could carry an investigation with no one around for a few miles to spy on them.

Suddenly, Sadie's face appeared through the thick foliage as she looked at him puzzled, wondering why he hadn't entered yet. Seeing her, he shook his head and carried the heavy bag through the shrubbery. What he saw inside was something he hadn't anticipated. He had expected the cave to be somewhat wet due to rain water flowing inside it and a few small pokémon living in there, like Golbat.

As soon as he entered, he was greeted with the sight of a dry cave with the floor covered with sand. There was a hole in the roof, allowing daylight to enter and light up the cave. The hole was large enough for them to pass through easily, one person at a time. The cave itself extended somewhere beyond the darkness in its back. No pokémon seemed to dwell there, in the front part of the cavern. The sand was dry and felt great under their bare feet, as the two removed their shoes to feel it. They might be working for an organization but they still had a small child in them that would come out at times like this.

"This is perfect." Jake stated, looking around once again. He turned towards his partner, as he asked, "Why didn't you tell me about this place before?"

She scratched the back of her head, embarrassed, as she said, "I forgot and didn't recall this place until when I mentioned about 'spy in the enemy camp'."

Jake shook his head at her. A thought occurred to him as he asked, "When did you find this place?"

"I came here when I was younger, around 6 or 7 years old, for the vacations, with my family. I used to play in this forest and liked to meet all the new pokémon. It was a one month vacation for my parents and we had come to Kanto to enjoy it. I found this cave accidentally when I was following a wild Bulbasaur. It came up to this wall of foliage and just disappeared. I couldn't figure out what was wrong or where it went until I decided to rest and pressed against this shrubbery, thinking it to be a solid wall. As soon as I touched it, I just fell down into the cave; it took me by surprise. Of course, I loved this place, since it was my secret. I also saw the Bulbasaur I had been following, looking at me warily. That's the way I found this place."

Jake nodded and placed his bag beside hers. The two took hold of their travel bags and stated putting in the supplies that travelers usually carried with them – extra set of clothes, matches, water bottles, extra pokéballs and the like. Then the two changed clothes in different bushes and hid their uniforms along with their bags in the cave. Finally ready, they set off towards Pallet Town.

Since they wanted to go there as fast as possible, they didn't bother checking out the whole cave. If they had, they would have found a green-colored basket with a cream colored cloth folded in it, at the back. As it was, they were ignorant of the fact. If they weren't, they would have known their safe hideout wasn't that safe anymore.

 ** _Team Rocket Headquarters, Kanto_**

"Where are you going, boss?" Giovanni's assistant asked him, as he got up from his usual seat and headed out of his office.

"To start the preparations," came the curt reply. "You know what to do."

She nodded as he and his Persian went out of the office. The two left the office and entered a lift, which took them down, in the large basement, specially constructed for secret missions and their preparations. As soon as the door opened, the boss and his partner walked briskly down the narrow aisle, which seemed to stretch into the infinite darkness. The aisle was made of metal everywhere, with the wall covered with a few inches thick metal sheets, each of them a foot wide, with a small gap running between each pair of sheets.

After a few minutes of twisting and turning in the passageway, it ended with a large metal door. The door itself looked strong enough to withstand even a combined explosion of several Forretress. Its surface was shiny and there didn't seem to be any handle on it. Giovanni went up to a foot away from the door and ran his finger down the narrow gap between the two metal sheet walls on his left. His finger soon encountered a small rise in the gap and he pressed it.

As soon as he pressed it, a small panel in the sheet beside it opened noiselessly and revealed a keypad with its screen flashing the message 'Enter the code'. Giovanni entered a 4-digit code and the metal door slid open just as silently as the small panel in the wall.

Beyond the door, many rocket grunts and scientists seemed to be working on something, each of the scientists facing a screen with the rocket grunts running their errands. Giovanni walked into the room as everyone of them greeted him with their customary 'Welcome Boss'. Giovanni nodded in acknowledgement as he went to the middle of the room where another dozen computer screens were worked at by his elite scientists, sitting in a circle.

"Is everything ready?" He asked the head scientist, who was keeping an eye on everyone.

"Everything is working great so far." The scientist replied. "All the dishes are aligned in the right direction, all the processing has been great so far and everyone is working with their best. The only thing remaining is for the satellites to be in their right positions – which will be in just a few days."

"Good. Make sure nothing is left out with this mission. This one should be successful at its first attempt."

"Yes sir! We will make sure nothing goes wrong."

Giovanni nodded and turned back as he muttered, "While you do that, I will take care of Ash Ketchum."

 ** _Pallet Town, Kanto_**

"How are we going to start on this case anyway?" Max asked, posing the question to everyone.

"Now let's see…" Ash started, putting his hand on his chin and closing his eyes, as he gave everyone the impression that he was thinking hard as well. An idea seemed to hit him as he looked up and pointed his finger up. "Let's start with training of our pokémon!"

Hearing that, the others sweat-dropped, as Misty asked angrily, "How do you think that is going to help give us a clue to Team Rocket, you idiot?"

"What a kid!" Iris said, shaking her head.

"Maybe that wouldn't help give us a clue," Ash said. "But at least our pokémon will be strong enough to fight them."

"That's true but…" Clemont started, sweat-dropping.

"Hey guys, could you help us?" They were interrupted by the voice of a girl. They turned to the source to see a green-haired, green-eyed boy and a yellow-haired, yellow-eyed girl, waving at them. They had scratches on their hands and faces, and some on their feet as well. Their clothes were torn at some parts. They held a few pokéballs in their hands.

"What happened?" Ash asked concerned, as the pair came running towards them.

"We were attacked by a pair of idiots." The yellow-haired girl replied, showing slight anger in her voice. Then she continued concernedly, "Can you guys help us and check our pokémon for injuries? They were in a tough battle."

"Sure, no problem." Brock said. "Just hand me over your pokéballs and I will have them checked out."

Acting along his instructions, the two handed over their pokéballs as Brock took them to the lab to have them checked out for any injuries. The two sighed, as Dawn said, "Don't worry. Brock will take care of your pokémon. They will be back in no time."

"Well, that's a relief." The green-haired boy said, sighing in relief.

"So, what happened?" Ash asked again.

"A pair of idiots attacked us, saying they wanted our pokémon and if we wouldn't hand them over, they would steal them. Of course, we had a fight with them and blasted them off but all those explosions due to the attacks ended up injuring us."

"Who were those idiots?" May asked; though from what they had said, she already had an idea who they were.

The yellow-head shrugged her shoulders in response as the green-head said, "We don't know. All that we know is they were wearing these strange white uniforms with a big, red capital R in its centre."

"Team Rocket!" Everyone said out loud, in unison. It had to be; no one they have seen has ever worn these uniforms other than the Rocket grunts.

"Team Rocket?" The two new-comers asked questioningly, looking at them curiously.

"They are a large group of bad guys who try to steal other people's pokémon." Bonnie said, looking at the two.

"How pathetic!" The yellow-head said, shaking her head. "Oh… by the way, I am Sadie and this is Jake."

"Hello," Jake said and waved at them. Realizing they hadn't introduced themselves, the group of trainers introduced themselves one-by-one.

"Nice to meet you all." Jake and Sadie said together, with cheerful grins. The others liked their cheerful attitudes and returned their grins – well, everyone except Meowth. Meowth seemed somewhat cautious of them, though he had returned their grins.

 _It is strange._ He thought. _Something doesn't seem right, though I can't seem to point out what._

He stared at the retreating figures of everyone thoughtfully, as they went inside to get Jake and Sadie's injuries checked; narrowing his eyes slightly as he decided to keep an eye on them, just to be safe.

* * *

 **And that's it. I am kind of running out of ideas for now, so it would be great if you could help me with these:**

 **1) How should Jake and Sadie blow their cover? That is, if they trip up somewhere (if so, where and how) or if Meowth manages to find some clues to their real purpose and gets caught, or something like that.**

 **2) Should Ash be killed? (I think he should not but his friends think that he has died (pretty much like in many of the betrayal fics))**

 **3) When and how should Serena confess? (Not any romantic scenes as I am very bad at that; something abrupt (and shocking for Ash) - a sudden confession or something like that)**

 **4) Should Serena's Eevee evolve? If so, what should I evolve it into?**

 **5) Should I pair up Brock with Sadie? (It has been going on in my mind for a while now, and yeah, I might be very bad at it since she is my first OC.)**

 **6) Should I introduce a love rival for Serena? (Could be anyone in this fic so far)**

 **7) Any other idea to include in this fic**

 **That pretty much sums it up. In case you think so, I won't canon Max x Bonnie in this one; it will be in its (possible) sequel. (I haven't decided yet, but I might start.)**

 **Well, sorry for this long Author's Note, but I hope you readers give me some interesting ideas. (Please!)**

 **UPDATE: My exams are going to last until 21st January, so I will update the next chapter in February. Please bear with me until then, and**

 **HAPPY NEW YEAR!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Finally, the exams are over. And having nothing to do, I end up writing this chapter in just a couple of days.**

 **To see 11K READS for this - that's a huge surprise! That's way more than I had expected. So,** **to compensate for the lost time _and_ as a thank you gift, here's a long chapter for you readers to enjoy!**

 **One more thing before we start. Everyone, except Max, Bonnie, Jake and Sadie, owns the same pokémon that they own in the animé as of 95th episode of XY series. As far as the exceptions are concerned:**

 **Max: Grovyle**

 **Bonnie: (takes care of) Dedenne and Eevee cub**

 **Jake: Dragonite**

 **Sadie: Pidgeot and Rhyhorn**

 **Other pokémon owned by Jake and Sadie will be revealed as the story progresses.**

 **As far as Jessie and James are concerned, I am not sure what new pokémon they should catch, if I decide to do it. Or do you want their released pokémon to return?**

 **That aside, enjoy this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

* * *

CHAPTER 13

"Don't worry; all of your pokémon are safe. They just had minor injuries." Brock responded to Sadie's question.

"Well, that's a relief." Sadie sighed. She and Jake were patched up with bandages to treat their wounds by the doctor with the help of Delia, Ash's mother, after having introduced them.

"You don't need to worry; after all, Brock is the best doctor in Kanto, when it comes to pokémon. Isn't that right, Brock?" Ash said, giving the 'V for victory' sign to the girl with a huge grin on his face.

"You're exaggerating, Ash," Brock said, scratching the back of his head. "I am not that good."

"You're just too modest." Misty said, coming up behind him with a smile. "Or why should everyone want to go to your clinic to get their pokémon looked after?"

Seeing that Brock couldn't say anything to it, she smiled wider. Then she turned towards Sadie as she said, "You are feeling well, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Sadie said, sweating a little. _This acting business is so difficult. I still don't see the end result of all this trouble, though it feels nice to be asked like that. It's been such a long while since then._

She felt a sudden pang of sadness. Not wanting to give away anything, she shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Is something wrong?" She looked up to see Misty looking at her, rather concerned. Behind her, Brock was treating Jake's wounds. Ash and Delia weren't there. Apparently, they had left the room to do their chores, whatever they were.

"Oh no, nothing is wrong." Sadie replied, sweat-dropping. Maybe, she should have waited for everyone to leave before shaking her head so suddenly.

Misty gave her a strange look, before saying, "Well, it's going to be lunch time soon. As soon as both of you feel well enough, come along to the dining room. In case you don't, just tell us. We'll bring your lunch here."

"Yeah, sure." Sadie nodded, as Misty left. She looked in front of her to see Brock looking up at her partner, saying, "There, that should help you heal faster."

"Thanks Brock."

"No worries. They are just minor injuries. Only Sadie has got a somewhat deep cut in her leg, though that shouldn't be too painful."

Brock turned to leave. When he reached the door, he turned back and said, "You should feel fine. Just come to the dining room when you feel well enough to walk."

He closed the door behind him as he left, leaving their two new friends to themselves. The two turned to each other and stared for a while.

"They are nice, aren't they?" Sadie asked.

"Yeah. At least they treat us better than our 'colleagues' in the HQ." Jake replied, as he got up. "I wonder when I was last treated like this. All I remember is being trained by our boss."

Sadie was about to reply but was interrupted with a loud growl coming from Jake's stomach. He rubbed his stomach and sighed. Turning towards her, he asked, "Can you get up?"

Sadie gently placed her foot down and stood up slowly to see if there was any soreness in it. She felt a slight ache but it wasn't much, so she nodded at her partner. "That bush sure managed to embed a thorn in my foot. I am glad they helped us with this."

He gave a sheepish grin as he said, "It was an idiotic idea, but there needed to be some kind of proof that we were attacked. What better than to tear our clothes at some places and getting some scratches?"

"I suppose. But having to ask our pokémon to do that – that too after battling each other? I think that was a little too much." Seeing that she was starting to irritate him, she continued, "But of course that was needed to give some proof that they were involved in battle."

Jake simply sighed and said, "Let's go already."

Saying that, he left the room, followed by Sadie, who thought, _Gosh, it's almost like you are forgetting that pokémon are like us, humans and they have emotions too. Well, it's something that I can't change about you, I guess._

As the two went down the corridor, they failed to notice cat whiskers just round the corner, near the door of the room that they had just left. It was Meowth; he had been listening to their conversation while they were inside.

 _So there is something behind them after all._ He thought. _I had been wondering why I felt there was something behind them; I suppose this must be it. The boss and HQ – it's all too familiar. They must be connected with Team Rocket somehow. I just need the proof to expose them._

Thinking of some way to know their truth, he made his way to the backyard, where everyone was seated, wolfing down the food to their hearts' content. Seeing him enter, Jessie waved him over and he joined them, momentarily forgetting about the newcomers' connection to the Rockets.

A few minutes later, filling themselves to their brim with food, they sat down satisfied with the feast. Almost everyone went to sleep at once, with no care in the world. Cilan did try to keep awake to work on the case but couldn't escape the soothing breeze and its coolness. Instead, he went to sleep, dreaming about flying around in the air with his partner, Pansage.

The only ones awake were Jake, Sadie and Meowth – although he had closed his eyes to make sure everyone thinks he is asleep. Sadie yawned loudly, as Jake patted his stomach lightly, saying, "What a feast! I don't remember when I was filled so much."

Sadie simply nodded in response. She had closed her eyes, allowing the breeze to pass through her hair and cool her down, enjoying very much. Even though they had just joined them, they already felt at ease, much more than they had ever been, ever since they joined the Rockets. It was almost like they were meant to be with this group.

"It is fun, isn't it?" Sadie said softly. "Even though this was supposed to be an act, I already feel comfortable with them enough – so much so that it's quite natural to laugh and smile around here, completely carefree."

Jake looked at her, and then back at the sky, as he simply smiled, for what she had said was true. There was no need for acting around them; it was quite natural. And even though he had thought, at first, that it would be awkward for him to smile without any reason; he was surprisingly comfortable, almost as if this was supposed to be a part of his daily life. Though for some reason, he didn't seem to remember when he had last smiled so carefree. _But it doesn't matter; it was worth it to join them. All I've got to do is make sure that we don't forget our real reason to join them._

The two laid back and closed their eyes, letting sleep take over them, as silence covered the area. Even Meowth, who had been awake for some time, went to sleep.

A few hours passed quickly while everyone was sleeping. Meanwhile, Delia and Professor Oak had been cleaning up all the mess after the birthday party, knowing that they were not going to get much time once everyone wakes up and puts their mind to the case. They wanted to help the kids as much as they wanted to help Ash; they weren't going to back off without at least putting up a fight to Team Rocket.

By the time they finished up packing up the last bits, it was already late evening. Deciding that the kids have slept for quite some time, they woke everyone up. Seeing that it was almost night-time, they knew they had just wasted the remaining day. Deciding to continue working on the case later, they all got up and went outside to tell their pokémon about the whole mess; it wouldn't be a satisfactory response they would get from them, but it wouldn't do to cut a long story short.

"Huh? Wait a second, everyone. Aren't you going to join us for dinner?" Delia asked, looking at them slightly confused.

"Oh no, we are too full to eat anything else. Isn't that right, everyone?" Misty asked, turning towards others. Everyone agreed.

"Well then, just don't spend too much time outside or you'll catch a cold."

They nodded and left the room, Jake and Sadie tagging along to see their pokémon up close. They had already seen the number of pokémon their new friends possessed; seeing them up close would be even more fun. And of course, their pokémon would also get quite a lot of new friends.

The rest of the evening was spent in introducing the new members in the group and explaining the whole situation to their worried pokémon. Finally calming all of them down, the group trooped inside and went to their respective rooms, allowing Jake and Sadie to join them.

Having spent late afternoon and half of the early evening asleep, it took them well past midnight to get to sleep. By that time, everyone had managed to sleep – well, almost everyone except Max in the boys' room, Bonnie in the girls' room and Meowth with the pokémon. Not being able to sleep, Bonnie got up silently and went out of the room to drink some water.

 _Maybe, I should try to find a clue or something to help Ash._ She thought, as she took a sip. Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming towards her. Feeling slightly scared due to everything going on, she turned slowly around, as the footsteps got louder. She was almost about to scream, when she heard a familiar voice saying, "Bonnie? What are you doing here?"

It was Max. He appeared in the moonlight coming through from the window in front of the water cooler, looking surprised. Bonnie lost her slightly scared look, as she retorted back, "What do you think I am doing in front of a water cooler?"

Stung by her sarcastic tone, he said, "What I meant was what you were doing so late at night."

She sighed in response and said, "I couldn't sleep."

"Same with me," Max replied, as he gulped down a glass of water.

Silence prevailed as Bonnie contemplated if she should tell him her recent thoughts about helping Ash. Deciding that she would, she started, "You know what? I was thinking that since we couldn't sleep, maybe we should find a clue or something to help Ash be proven completely innocent."

Listening to her, Max knew at once that she was contemplating going out right then, when everyone was asleep, so that they wouldn't face any resistance from their siblings or friends. "Are you sure about that? Shouldn't we at least tell someone older so that they know where we are?"

"But that would mean we won't be able to go at all. No sibling or elder will allow us to."

"But still, what if something happens?"

"What happened? Are you scared?"

"W-who says that? I am not scared at all."

"Max is scared. He is a scaredy-cat." Bonnie started chanting, aggravating Max even more.

"Alright then, let's go right now. I will show you who is really scared."

Bonnie started giggling silently, knowing that what she had said had had the desired effect on Max. "Alright then, let's go!"

"Shhhhh…" Max hissed fiercely, silencing her at once. "Do you want to wake anyone up and stop us?"

She shook her head vigorously and the two tiptoed out of the house, leaving the locked door open for them to come in later. But not before someone seeing them going out. Meowth, who had been awake, had heard Bonnie's voice and had tiptoed silently near them, hearing every single bit of their conversation. Knowing both of their personalities, he decided to follow and keep an eye on them, in case they ended up in any mess, so that he could help.

The three went out towards the field with Meowth following them, a few paces behind. It was already past midnight, so the night was quite cold. Quivering due to the cold wind, Max and Bonnie started making their way to the cluster of trees at one end of the field.

Bonnie, confused due to the direction they had taken, asked, "Why are we heading there, Max? Shouldn't we head to south where two of the observatories are?"

"Of course I know that. But we don't know their exact locations. That's why we're heading this way to get hold of one of Ash's flying-type pokémon. We will be able to look miles around when riding on one of them. Besides, they are fast, so we can run away easily, in case something happens."

Bonnie nodded, as the two reached the small grove, shivering slightly with the cold.

"Grovyle!" Max called to his partner pokémon. The grass-type pokémon had been outside his pokéball ever since they had arrived here and he had been sleeping in the grove due to the familiarity of that environment.

Crunching of leaves was heard as Grovyle appeared on a branch, looking sleepy. Seeing his trainer up at such an odd hour surprised him. He jumped down and landed in front of Max. With Bonnie's help, Max quickly told him about their plans and asked him to call all the flying-types that were large enough to take the two of them.

Although Grovyle looked skeptical, he respected his trainer's wishes and ran back inside the grove. While Grovyle was gone, a thought occurred to Bonnie as she asked, "Why only Ash's pokémon? Isn't there Dawn's Togekiss as well? And Misty's Gyarados?"

"I know that. But Misty's Gyarados can't fly long enough. Besides, it is weaker outside water. And I am more familiar with Ash's pokémon than anyone else's."

"I see."

In a few minutes, Grovyle came back with Staraptor, Noctowl and Charizard. Thanking him for his work, Max returned the grass-type in its pokéball. He heard a grunt and looked up to see Charizard pointing towards himself, indicating he could easily lift the two of them and was ready to help them.

"Thanks Charizard." Bonnie said, running towards the fire/flying-type. Just as she was about to jump on him, Max interrupted.

"Sorry Charizard, you can't come."

Taken aback by Max's refusal for his help, Charizard choked back an angry growl. Did that brat think he wasn't fast enough?

"Hey, why not?" Bonnie asked, perplexed.

"Because, first, he has that fire burning at the end of his tail that could easily be seen in such a dark night. And second, he is way too big to hide. Remember that we don't have his pokéball so he can't hide in the dark by himself. Besides, it would be difficult for him to see in the dark."

Realizing that Max had a point, Charizard sighed and looked down dolefully. He had wanted to help them and was fairly confident on his speed. Bonnie seemed to understand his points as well, as she patted the fire-type pokémon's stomach.

"Seems like you will have to stay out of this one, Charizard. But," she continued, "I know you would have been a huge help for us if you could come. Don't worry, I promise the next time we go out like that, you can come with us."

Saying so, she hugged the pokémon, though her arms barely reached half of his stomach. Everyone looked at her with a smile, as she let go of Charizard.

"Well, who's going to come with us now?" She asked, looking at the remaining two pokémon. Both of them raised their wings, indicating they were ready to help them.

Max looked thoughtful as he contemplated whom he should choose. Meanwhile, Bonnie, not wanting to waste too much time, said, "Why don't you both help us out?"

"Both? Why?"

"Why not? It isn't like we are limited to use only one pokémon, is it? I don't remember anyone telling us to use only one pokémon."

"I suppose it doesn't matter anyway." Max relented. He turned towards the waiting pokémon and nodded to both of them. He and Bonnie each climbed one – Max on Staraptor and Bonnie on Noctowl – and they took off towards the general south direction.

A few minutes passed in silence as the two pokémon picked up speed. The two started looking around – Max carefully, while Bonnie fascinated.

 _The view is so amazing._ She thought, looking at the faraway lights of Viridian City at the horizon. The lights stretched across the horizon, twinkling in the night. The scene had her captivated so much; she had forgotten she was cold in the first place.

"Hey, I just realized something." She heard Max say. Turning towards him, she gave a questioning look. The boy continued, "Do you know where those observatories are?"

"Nope. Not at all." She replied, shaking her head.

"Whaaaaaaaat?" Max gaped at her. "How in the world are we going to find them when we don't even know where they are?"

"Well, we know they are south of us."

"THAT DOESN"T HELP!" He yelled at her. The two pokémon sweat-dropped, wondering what they had been getting themselves into.

Sighing, Max calmed himself down and said, "Well, I guess we will have to split up then. You go towards east, I'll head to west."

He looked down at his ride and nodded. Staraptor started turning towards west. The bird pokémon was about to pick up speed, when Bonnie interrupted, "And how do we signal each other if we found one?"

The two halted as Max thought of a solution. Noticing her signature shoulder bag with her, he asked, "Is Dedenne with you?"

She nodded in response, lightly patting the bag. "Well then, if you see one, ask Dedenne to use Thunderbolt. I will be able to see his electricity."

"What about you?"

Max looked thoughtful. He didn't have anything that could be seen from a distance in the dark starry night.

"Starrr…"

The two kids looked towards Staraptor, followed by a thought occurring to Max. He bumped his left fist in his right palm. "Of course!"

Bonnie and Noctowl looked at him with Bonnie raising an eyebrow at him. He looked back at her and said, "Staraptor can use Brave Bird. You will be able to see that move easily."

"Starrraptor!"

"What does Brave Bird look like?"

"Uh well… Let's say, it looks like Staraptor is on fire."

"But how? I remember Brock telling me Staraptor was a normal/flying-type."

"You know what? I will explain everything later. Let's just not wait too much time; we still have to get back in time or the others might find out about our little excursion."

"Fine, I guess. Just don't forget about that."

The two separated towards their decided directions as Max sighed in relief. He had started to think that they might just spend the time with him answering her questions. He knew she was a trainer-in-training so she was bound to have many questions still left to be answered. He sighed again.

"Starrr."

"Yeah, let's get to work Staraptor."

They spent half an hour travelling in the west direction and looking around, trying to find an observatory. Max knew how they looked like, having read about them back home when he had been helping his father with the gym. Now was the time to put his knowledge to test to see if he could pinpoint the location of one of the four observatories.

Calculating quickly in his head, he told Staraptor to go southwest. The bird conceded and turned to where he pointed. Max, meanwhile, looked back and saw they were already far away from both Pallet Town and Viridian City. He wondered just how far southwest the observatory was. If Officer Jenny of Viridian City was the one working on the case, then all the observatories should be in the 20-mile radius around Viridian City.

The two continued looking around. After another quarter of an hour, Max gave up and asked Staraptor to turn around. He didn't want to waste too much time because the midnight outing had used up his energy and he was starting to feel sleepy.

Just as the two turned around, they saw a small yellow dot coming down from the sky, almost 8 miles away – or so Max thought. The dot disappeared suddenly, as Max looked on watchfully. A few seconds later the dot appeared again, this time going up, and soon it came back down and disappeared just as suddenly.

 _That has to be Bonnie's signal._ Max thought. He looked towards Staraptor who nodded. Before flying towards the direction where the dot had appeared, Max said, "Staraptor, use Quick Attack to get there. Let's not waste too much time."

"Staraptor!"

The flying-type readied himself as Max tightened his hold on him. Flapping his wings suddenly, Staraptor started picking up speed, hoping Max had a tight enough hold on him. He didn't want to think what would happen if Max slipped; he wouldn't be able to forgive himself ever.

Meanwhile, Max himself couldn't believe how much speed Staraptor had picked up. _And he is still going faster! I wonder if this is how pokémon feel when we tell them to use Quick Attack. Don't their eyes ever water and ruin their vision while using such fast attacks? Or is this one of the many unexplored mysteries of the pokémon world?_

By the time Staraptor had reduced speed, Max could already see the source of that yellow dot – Bonnie and Noctowl, and Dedenne sitting on Bonnie's head.

 _It must have been barely five minutes and we already covered that large distance! Staraptor could be very useful in battles with such speed._ Max thought, as Staraptor slowed to a stop beside Noctowl.

Max started breathing heavily, now that the pressure due to the wind was removed from over his chest.

"You okay?" Bonnie asked, looking at him. His hair and clothes both were completely messed up. It was like he had been tossed into a washing machine and set at full speed for a few minutes, before pulling him out.

"Yeah, I am fine." Max said, trying to set his hair and clothes back like they had been.

"Look there." Bonnie said, pointing down in front of them. The four of them looked down to see a sinister-looking observatory. It looked like a normal radio observatory with a huge antenna, except that there was no light inside it. The whole area was completely shrouded in darkness and silence; even the sound of nocturnal pokémon could not be heard.

The ominous silence sent shivers up and down Max's spine. He turned towards Bonnie expecting her to look scared, but was met with a huge grin on her face.

"I can almost feel the adventure in the air." She said, looking ready for an adventure.

"A-aren't you afraid?"

"What is there to be afraid of? It's only a huge building with its lights out."

"But there could be dangerous pokémon lurking around, waiting for an opportunity to attack us or something."

"Well, don't worry. Dedenne and I will protect you." She said, bumping her fist to her chest.

"Nene!"

"I don't need your protection. I can take care of myself very well." Max retorted, taking her assertion as teasing. Bonnie looked confused, but shrugged and forgot about it.

"Let's go." She said, as Noctowl began descending.

"H-hey, wait!" Max yelled, as Staraptor followed Noctowl's lead.

The two pokémon descended quickly and landed at the edge of the clearing. The four, then ran and hid in the bushes, waiting to see if anyone was there.

"How did you find out?" Max asked, posing Bonnie the question that had been on his mind for some time.

"About what?"

"Where the observatory was located. I tried hard but couldn't find any in the west."

"Well after we separated, Noctowl and I continued towards the east. After around fifteen minutes of searching, Noctowl thought he could see something on the horizon. So, we changed our direction and headed out here. What Noctowl could see was the observatory. And then, I woke up Dedenne to signal you."

"Oh right." Max said. "I forgot Noctowl can see in the dark."

A few minutes passed in silence, neither of the two daring to break it. Finally deciding that the coast was clear, Max let go of his breath he hadn't known he had been holding.

"Do you think it is safe enough to go inside?" Bonnie asked cautiously, whispering in a low voice.

"I guess." Max replied. He, then, turned towards the two flying-type pokémon standing beside them and said, "You two better stay out here to cover us from behind. We haven't brought your pokéballs, so we can't call you back in them. There's nowhere for you to hide in case someone comes. Just help us in case we need you."

As much as the two pokémon wanted to accompany the two kids, they knew Max had a point. So, they decided to act along his words and nodded. Thanking them, Max and Bonnie left and ran quickly to the door they could see. Coming up close to the door, they could see the yellow tapes the police had placed at the door to prevent anyone from entering into the restricted area.

The two seemed to have same thought crossing their minds, for they looked at each other and nodded. Max, followed by Bonnie, entered through the door, moving the tapes aside. They were surprised to see the door open knowing that the police usually locked such places, but were glad that their efforts to find it hadn't been futile. As soon as they entered, even the little light that the stars and the moon had been providing couldn't reach them. They were shrouded by the darkness.

It took a minute or two for their eyes to get used to the dark. Soon enough, they could make out they were in some kind of hallway. At the end, they were able to see a door. Once again looking at each other and nodding, the two tiptoed to the door. Bonnie put an ear to the door to see if she could hear anything beyond it, while Max pulled out a small flashlight he had had in his pocket.

While deciding what he should take on his travels after meeting Ash, he found out that his old flashlight was broken. Knowing he might need one, he had purchased one after getting the egg for Bonnie. After putting it in his pocket, he had completely forgotten about it until after they had left that night. While travelling on Staraptor, his hand had touched his pocket by chance and he had realized that he had completely forgotten about it. But forgetting about it had proved to be useful for him, now that he was using it to try and unlock the mystery at the observatory.

Using the flashlight, he played it around the place they were in cautiously. With it he could see that it was a small corridor, more like an entrance hall to the main room. He could also see there were two other doors on the opposite walls of the hallway.

He went near the first door and started to open it, hoping that it wouldn't creak. It didn't, and he opened the door, fully revealing the room. It was a bedroom – an unfurnished one – with just a bed, a table and some kind of papers – probably containing the numbers that were obtained after studying the radiations collected by the antenna.

Seeing nothing else around, he closed the door and went towards the other door. Opening it noiselessly, he saw the room beyond that door was a kitchen – which was unfurnished as well. There didn't seem to be anything in the kitchen, so he closed the door and played the flashlight towards the main door – right at Bonnie's face.

Bonnie shielded her eyes from the bright light with her arm and beckoned Max over. He went towards her and Bonnie whispered, "There's no sound behind the door."

Even though the whisper was supposed to be in a low voice, the silence and the dark night made it echo loudly in the corridor. The two kept silent, wondering if anyone had heard it. Even though the place was off-limits, from what Officer Jenny had told them, they knew no officer had checked out the observatories from inside – and those that had, hadn't come back. So there was a possibility that there must have been something or someone inside that had done this.

The echoes soon faded but there was nothing else coming through the heavy silence. Certain that no one had heard them, Max went to the door and turned its knob slowly. The door opened noiselessly, contrary to Max's assumption. He had expected it to at least make a small creak, but the door opened as if its hinges were well-oiled.

The two went through the door and looked around. It was a huge room, circular in shape. Max had assumed the room must be full of machines and equipment to record signals from the sky and whatnot. But the sight that greeted him was something he had least expected. The whole room was bare, completely stripped down to nothing but wires.

He switched on his flashlight and played it around, but all he could see was wires. Some were thick, others were thin, but the whole floor was covered with them. They were running everywhere he could see with his flashlight. There wasn't even enough space on the floor to keep his feet without tripping on one.

 _What is this?_ was the only thought in his mind when he saw this.

The flashlight didn't reach farther than a few feet, so all they could see was wires running everywhere.

 _Observatories aren't like this._ Max thought. _There should have been at least a few machines or computers here. The police didn't come inside, so there's no way the machines went out of this room – unless someone broke in._

"This isn't normal, is it, Max?" Bonnie asked quietly, looking around. Her adventurous side seemed to have quelled a bit, now that they were inside the observatory. It seemed that she hadn't expected this sight either.

Max shook his head in response. "Something fishy is going on here; that's for sure."

The two once again looked around as Bonnie started walking slowly ahead, careful not to tread on any wires. Having a brother for inventor had its own advantages. If she ended up stepping on an open wire, she would get electrocuted. And it wasn't possible to pinpoint one in the whole maze of wires they were in at the moment.

Max followed her lead as the two started making their way carefully to the opposite side from the door. Max kept on flashing the flashlight around to make sure that neither he nor Bonnie would end up stepping on an open wire.

As they approached the opposite side of the room, Max noticed something strange.

 _Why does it seem that all the wires are meeting at a point?_ He thought, looking around. In the little light, he could see that the wires were, more or less, meeting at a point from their side of the room.

"Hey Max," Bonnie suddenly whispered, attracting his attention. "Do you feel like we are being watched?"

"Huh? No." Max replied, looking at her confused for a while. Then he snickered, "You are just scared that we are alone in a restricted place, aren't you?"

"Not really. It's just that I feel suddenly uncomfortable."

Max had intended his question as a joke, but the way Bonnie replied made him uncomfortable. He suddenly started feeling anxious and played his flashlight around them. The farthest he could see was that his guess was right. The wires _did_ converge and he could see them going into a large hole.

The hole itself was large enough to accommodate all the wires going into it as well as some extra gap. Max quickly went near the hole and flashed the light at the side of the extra gap. He had done that on a wild hunch, but he was still surprised to see a ladder attached to the side.

Bonnie came up and leaned down beside him, having forgotten about her uneasiness at the moment. She looked somewhat confused; she hadn't expected to see _this_ out of all the things that could have been in the observatory. Why would there be wires filling the whole room and why would there be such a large hole in the middle?

"I think," Max started, gaining her attention. "I think all the machines may be down this hole."

"Yeah, they could be." Bonnie replied. She was about to continue, but the nervousness of someone watching them had returned. She looked up and gazed around, not knowing what to expect of the ominous darkness.

"Uh… Max." She said uneasily.

"What?"

"I still feel like someone is watching our every movement."

"You are just nervous. I guess all this mess with Ash has made you uneasy."

"I guess."

Bonnie didn't want to start a fight for no reason. Teamwork and trust between them was absolutely necessary if they were to help Ash out of this mess together – even if it was just a clue. Although already knowing about that, she still had a bad feeling about the place they were in currently.

"So, should we go down?" She turned towards her companion, who was looking down the hole. The light from his flashlight couldn't go more than a few feet, so all they could see was darkness. Who knew what did it hold for them?

"It's fine by me as long as we keep quiet." Bonnie replied, getting herself ready for their adventure.

The two were about to descend, when Bonnie once again felt something creep behind them. She turned slowly and froze.

"Uh… Max, something is behind us."

"What?"

Max turned around and froze at the sight. A pair of red eyes stared at him. He felt that they weren't just staring _at_ him, they were staring _through_ him. He screamed out loud so suddenly, it took all of them by surprise. Bonnie was quite sure that the scream had woken up the whole forest! Max fell down as Bonnie saw who the pair of eyes belonged to.

"Gengar!"

The ghost-type pokémon appeared in front of them with an idiotic grin on its face. It seemed to have enjoyed Max's sudden scream. It made another noise and grinned wider, seemingly enjoying himself.

"What are you laughing at, you idiotic pokémon?" Max yelled at it, angry at being scared so easily. The reply was an even wider grin.

Max was about to send out Grovyle, but Bonnie went near the ghost-type and started playing with it. Gengar seemed to enjoy playing with her. Calming down, Max went near them as Gengar extended a hand towards him, as if asking him to join in.

Max started extending his hand when suddenly Gengar developed a blank look in its eyes. The two stared at him – Bonnie confused, and Max both, confused and somewhat scared.

For a moment, there was no movement as Max and Bonnie waited for something to happen. Then suddenly, Gengar made a Shadow Ball and threw it at them. The two jumped aside as the shadow ball passed harmlessly between them.

"What's wrong, Gengar?" Bonnie said – or more likely yelled – from a distance, as she got up. Her words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Gengar started making another shadow ball.

"Uh… I don't think Gengar is interested in hearing you at all." Max said, as the two dodged the shadow ball.

"Alright then. Dedenne…!" Bonnie started, about to order her partner to attack when Max interrupted.

"Wait Bonnie! This isn't the best place to start a battle."

The girl looked at him confused. Even though she hadn't spent too long a time with him, she knew he shared Ash's passion and determination for battles. Hearing him say such a thing certainly confused her. After all, why would he deny a _battle,_ of all things?

Seeing her expression, Max started, exasperated at her ignorance, "We are inside a room, idiot. Do you want to bring down the whole room? And there are wires all around us; they might affect Dedenne. Besides, we are inside a restricted area. We'd rather not leave any clue that we had been here."

All the while he said that, the ghost-type pokémon kept attacking them with shadow balls. The two had to keep them dodging, as they made their way back towards the door. Realizing that Max had a point, Bonnie didn't order any attack. Dedenne was confused, but shrugged and went back to sleep, not caring in the least what was going on around him.

As the two passed through the door and started running, Max noticed another strange thing. The Gengar had fired quite a lot of shadow balls – too many to control them, if it could. But none of the shadow balls had touched the walls of the room, as though they were remotely controlled. All the shadow balls went out the door and attacked the forest around it.

The two went out the door and ran for the bushes. They reached the part where they had left Staraptor and Noctowl and jumped inside them, waiting to see if any more shadow balls followed them. A few minutes passed but none came. Max sighed and then, looked above in the sky. His eyes widened as he realized that the sky wasn't as dark anymore as it had been when they had entered.

"Starrrrrraptor!"

"Noctowl!"

Both Bonnie and Max came out of the bushes as Staraptor and Noctowl landed in front of them. Apparently, as soon as the shadow balls started coming out the door, the two bird pokémon flew in the sky to avoid them.

"Quick, Bonnie!" Max said, as he got on Staraptor. Bonnie didn't need to be told twice as she jumped on Noctowl. The two pokémon took off and gained an altitude, as Max sighed in relief. Once they were far enough, both of them sighed.

"Wasn't it weird," Bonnie started, "how Gengar suddenly seemed to be controlled?"

"Yeah," Max replied. "I wonder what happened out there."

There was a pause; none of them had any answer to that question.

"Anyway," Max said, gaining everyone's attention. "We are already short on time. It will be dawn soon. We'll have to reach home before that."

Bonnie hadn't realized just how much time they had been inside the observatory. Listening to Max, she looked around, finally realizing that. She also realized that even if not anyone else, Gary would get up early to continue his research. They certainly didn't have much time left. They would have to reach home before dawn or they might get caught.

"Any idea how we are going to go faster?" She asked Max.

"Yeah." Max said, then turned towards Noctowl. "Can you use quick attack?"

Noctowl nodded and readied himself. Being with other of Ash's flying-types, Noctowl had quickly learnt that they were going to keep on training, even if their trainer wasn't there. To make their training more fun, they kept on competing with each other all the time – like who was the fastest, or who could keep going even after a really challenging bout of training, and the like.

Due to the continuous competition between them, all of the flying-types had gained quite a lot of speed and endurance that they kept on putting to the test. Many-a-times, they would end up calling Professor Oak to treat their injuries. But it was all worth it.

Noctowl exchanged glances with Staraptor, who nodded. This was going to be another race between just the two of them. They both readied themselves as Max and Bonnie tightened their holds.

"Alright Staraptor, Noctowl, we are ready." Max said.

As soon as he said that, the two pokémon picked up speed and tried to keep ahead of the other, while making sure their riders don't fall off. In a short time, they had left the observatory behind.

In just under fifteen minutes, they could see Pallet Town easily. The two pokémon landed near the same clump of trees where they had started at midnight with Staraptor landing just a fraction of a second ahead of Noctowl. The sun had started to rise up the horizon by the time they landed.

"Whoa! That was even faster than before, Staraptor!" Max exclaimed as the two kids got off the pokémon. "Where did you learn to go so fast?"

"That was fun!" Bonnie said, even before Staraptor could reply. Then she suddenly lost her energy and yawned loudly. It seemed like their excursion in the night had sapped all energy out of them.

"I think it's time to sleep." Max said, yawning, as the two started making their way to the lab, leaving the flying-type pokémon to doze off.

Meanwhile, back at the observatory, Gengar seemed to have gained control of his body again. It looked around confused. Where did those funny humans go? That must have been the thought in its mind. Seeing that he was all alone, he left the observatory and went back into the forest to hide before it was morning.

Meanwhile, inside the dark hole that Max and Bonnie had seen, a voice could be heard.

"Looks like it is working perfectly." The voice had a kind of authoritative ring to it.

"Yeah, it is." Another voice replied. It was a woman's voice.

"Tell the boss that all the devices here are working properly."

"Got it."

"Although, it is a shame we couldn't test it on that strange electric-type. What was its name again? ... Ah, that's right, Dedenne."

"To see if it could control the opponent's attacks and pokémon, right?"

"Yeah. But if it could work on a wild Gengar, it can be deduced that this thing could also work on a captured pokémon."

"Yeah, that's true. But we are going to need more power if we are supposed to extend the area all towards the south."

"We can control other electric-types in the area surrounding this building and then use their electricity. Once we are connected to the HQ and the Prism Tower in Lumiose City, we won't need those pokémon."

"HQ for psychic power and Prism Tower for that city's electricity. It will work; no doubt about it."

"Isn't it wonderful? This whole idea was boss's right from the start. He has made sure there won't be any loopholes or flaws in the whole plan. It took him almost five years to plan it all and get the necessary equipments."

"Yeah, it is. Now, I think I should send a message to the boss about completion of the preliminary tests. Then we wait until further orders."

 ** _Pallet Town, Kanto_**

Gary woke up to the sound of the alarm. He quickly shut it off and got up. Quickly washing his face to rid him of his sleep, he went to his lab to continue his research on Mega Evolution. Although his research was about to end, he had already decided to help Professor Sycamore with his research of fairy-types as well.

 _The pokédex still needs to be updated after including mega evolution._ He thought as he went to a locker in his lab room. _But I must start researching about the origin of fairy-type as well._

He was about to start when he remembered he had forgotten to put his research papers back in their places. _It wouldn't be good if I lost any of those. They are very valuable to help upgrade the pokédex._

As he passed the boys' room, he noticed another empty bed, other than his own. Looking around in the room, he realized it was Max's.

 _Where could he have gone so early in the morning?_ Gary thought, picking up his research papers; he had kept them in the outside hall. _He isn't training or something like that, is he?_

Deciding to check on him, he went to the front door. As soon as he reached there, he was surprised to find it unlocked. _I remember Delia locking the door quite well. Then it must be Max outside._

He opened the door and took a step out, only to feel something bumping in his side. He turned to see not only Max, but Bonnie too, looking like they would fall asleep any moment.

"Hey, are you too okay?" Gary asked concerned. It surprised him quite a lot to see two kids out here in the cold morning. Who knows what they had been doing?

"Yeah, we're okay." Bonnie said sleepily and yawned loudly.

Seeing that they were really sleepy, Gary said, "You two better rest a bit. We will talk later. Now, come on."

He herded them both quickly to their rooms and went to his task soon after. In the meantime, even before their heads touched the pillow, the two were out cold, dreaming about battling each other and mumbling incoherent words.

* * *

 **And that's it! That's the end of another chapter of this story. I am really glad a few people helped me decide the plot of the story and gave me a few awesome ideas to write about. You will find out about them as the story continues. Have a nice day!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.**

* * *

CHAPTER 14

"GET UP, MAX!" May yelled at the top of her voice. Brock and Ash had to put their hands to their ears but Max didn't budge one bit. He was still asleep, snoring loudly. In the next room, Clemont did the same thing to Bonnie.

"GET UP, BONNIE!" Bonnie was out cold as well.

It was eight in the morning and everyone except those two kids had already got up. Thinking that they might not have been able to sleep until later in the night, they had let them sleep. But even after they had gotten ready, the two were still snoring and sleeping peacefully.

 _Didn't they care what happened to Ash?_ was the thought through everyone's mind – well, almost everyone except a few people like Trip, Paul and Ash himself. While Trip and Paul believed this to have no connection with them, Ash believed that he would be able to get out of it in one piece.

Misty put a hand on May's shoulder and shook her head. "Let them sleep. We can ask them later about this."

May sighed and left her brother alone. All of them gathered in the drawing room. Each one of them seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. Brock decided to be their leader and help coordinate them.

Just as he was about to announce it, the doorbell rang, eliciting surprised expressions from everyone. Who would be there at such a time? Serena, nearest the door, opened it, revealing the person to be Officer Jenny, her presence surprising the trainers even more.

"How can we help you, Officer Jenny?" Serena asked.

The officer smiled in response and said, "You are helping me anyway, by working on this case. I came here to explain a few things to you. Come out in the field; I will explain."

Though confused, they followed the officer out in the field. Once everyone had gathered, she started, "Since this case has been given to me to solve _and_ you guys want to help me, I have decided a few things."

They all nodded as the officer continued, "First: I will be your coordinator since I have had experience of it by managing many subordinates under me. There are four locations where the raids occurred."

The officer pulled out a map of the surrounding area and marked four crosses where the observatories were. Clemont noticed that one was in southeast and other in southwest. The remaining two were in east-north-east and west-north-west. The four roughly formed what could have been a regular pentagon had there been another observatory in north.

"These crosses mark the position where the observatories are. Now, before I continue, divide yourself into groups you can work with the best."

"What do you mean to say, Officer?" Iris asked.

"I think she means," Cilan said, gaining others' attention, "we should divide ourselves such that we can work without fighting or arguing. For example, Iris and I could work well together since we know each other inside and out, having travelled together for long enough. Similarly, Dawn and Brock could work well together, since they have travelled together through Sinnoh. Am I right, Officer?"

"Right." The officer said. "Divide yourselves into four groups the way Cilan explained."

"In that case," Brock started, "Gary, Misty, Max and May could work together. Dawn, Ash, Paul and I would be another group. Iris, Cilan and Trip would be third, and Serena, Clemont and Bonnie would be the fourth. Jessie, James and Meowth could fit anywhere since everyone knows them."

"I guess that's fine as long as Max and May don't start arguing." Dawn said.

"Hey, we don't argue all the time!" May said, glaring at Dawn.

"Sure you don't." Dawn replied back, grinning at her friend's angry face.

"So, that's decided." Officer Jenny said, jotting down all the group names. "What about you three?"

Jessie, James and Meowth exchanged glances, and then James said, "We would rather work together."

"Hmmm… well, you do have a balloon, don't you?" The officer asked.

"Well yeah."

"Then use it and be a lookout for the others from the air."

"But… but how are we going to keep a lookout on all the four places?"

"Choose one. I'll have my subordinates guard the other three."

"Well, we'll guard the one in which Ash is."

"Alright then, that's decided." The officer said and quickly assigned each group an observatory to search around.

"Hey wait a minute," Clemont said. "We forgot about Jake and Sadie."

"That's right. How could we?!"

"What about us?" The others immediately felt uncomfortable about not having told them about this mess, as they turned to see the two standing behind them. So, they quickly explained them everything in short.

"So are you going to help us?" Officer Jenny asked, once the explanation was over. Seeing that they really hadn't any choice, the two agreed at once.

"Thanks so much for your help." Ash said sincerely.

"It is no big deal." Sadie said, dismissing his thanks. "After all, we both do share the same sentiment when it comes to pokémon."

Ash could only scratch the back of his head, not being able to answer. Meanwhile, the other girls were really hoping she wasn't as fanatic about saving pokémon as Ash was. Keeping an eye on one was hard enough, they weren't sure if they could keep an eye on both of them.

"Alright then," Officer Jenny said, gaining their attention. "Jake, you can join Iris, Cilan and Trip. Sadie, you will join Serena, Clemont and Bonnie."

The two groups welcomed their new members as Officer Jenny waited for them to finish. Once they were finished, she continued, "Remember one more thing. Make sure not to make any reckless decisions. Don't go inside the observatories unless as a last resort, because even though it was your decision, I would feel guilty for letting you get in danger."

They all nodded and silently promised themselves not to get in any trouble.

"And finally," the officer continued, "make sure to report to me any discoveries you make. Don't let any evidence slip from your hands which might help nail down the real criminal."

"Got it."

"Well then, I will get going back to the police station. You can start as soon as you are ready. It would be better not to waste any more time than we already have."

Saying so, the officer left, leaving all the teenagers to themselves. They all exchanged glances and nodded. They would make sure not to get in any trouble and not waste any more time.

"GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!" Each group yelled as they separated and set out in the allotted directions. They had decided to let Max and Bonnie sleep for Gary had mentioned finding them that morning completely exhausted.

 _Though, I wonder what the two were up to._ May thought as she ran. She patted the small bag attached to her belt and felt six pokéballs shake in them. _All right, guys! Let's give it all we've got."_

* * *

Jessie, James and Meowth ran towards the cave where they had hidden their balloon. On the way, Meowth decided to tell his partners about his thoughts regarding the two newcomers. He quickly started explaining what he had heard when they had treated them for their injuries. By the time he finished, they were standing in front of a large cave; people would have known about it if its mouth wasn't covered with vines, completely hidden from outside.

"You must have heard wrong, Meowth. There's no way they could be a part of Team Rocket." James said as he parted the vines. The three were too busy in their conversation to notice the two large bags lying in the shadow, a few meters away from them.

"I didn't. Why don't you believe me?" Meowth asked, exasperated. He had decided to share his knowledge with them first and the others later, lest the others didn't believe him. But it seemed that his own partners weren't ready to believe him currently.

"How do you account for their bruises? Besides, they said they were attacked by some crooks wearing uniforms with a big R on their shirts. That's Team Rocket's uniform." Jessie said, reassessing what Meowth had told them.

"You're right." Meowth replied. " _They_ told us; we didn't see it for ourselves. As far as their bruises are concerned, there are enough thorny bushes in this forest to jump into. Looking at Sadie's deep wound in her leg, it was easy to tell that a thorn had pierced her skin."

"But even if we suppose that you're right," Jessie said, "it seems rather farfetched. I mean who would jump into a thorny bush?"

"And there's another thing." James said. He held their balloon and its basket in his hand, having retrieved it while they were talking. The bags were still invisible to the three of them.

"What?" Meowth asked.

"You never heard them mention Team Rocket. You only heard them say HQ and boss. For all we know, they could be a part of some organization that helps the police and they were talking about _that_ HQ and _that_ boss."

"I suppose." Meowth said sighing. "You do have a point."

Suddenly, without warning, a yawn escaped his mouth. He yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes. Jessie and James looked at him, somewhat surprised.

"Don't tell me you're feeling sleepy. It isn't even noon yet." Jessie said while helping James set the balloon and its fuel.

"Oh, it's nothing." Meowth replied. "It's just that I couldn't sleep most of the night. After all, we did spend most of the evening sleeping."

His partners didn't seem to completely believe him but didn't push the point. After all, they were on a mission. The three quickly filled up the balloon and jumped in it. Just as they were about to ascend, James asked Meowth to go and check if they had left anything.

Sighing, Meowth quickly got out and went inside. Seeing there was nothing, he was about to go back when a gleam caught his eye. Much to his companions' chagrin, he went to the shadowed side of the cave.

Now that he noticed, the sunlight piercing through the thick wall of vines was being reflected of something. That something was the metallic edge of a bag – a _huge_ bag as he thought. He wanted to check out what was in them but was interrupted by his companions' cries.

"What are you doing in there, Meowth? Do you need some help or something?"

"Yeah, coming!" He yelled back, making a note to check them later. The three quickly left the cave and were on their way to southeast, as Meowth gave another yawn much to their surprise.

 _How I wish those kids had returned earlier!_ Meowth thought. _I couldn't sleep a wink peacefully, knowing they could be in danger. After all, I and Charizard were the only ones who knew where they were headed. But at least, they are back safe. Now, if only I wouldn't feel so sleepy._

Light snores filled the area, as Meowth finally drifted off to sleep, leaving his partners confused.

* * *

"Hey Ash, aren't you tired yet?" Dawn asked, visibly tired. It had been three hours since they had started. She was walking more slowly, compared to Ash, Brock and Paul. While Brock and Paul didn't show any excitement, Ash seemed to have excess of it. He was going around, checking every nook and cranny for pokémon.

"What? You are tired already?" Ash asked, completely oblivious about her condition. "It has been only three hours."

"IT HAS BEEN THREE WHOLE HOURS!" She yelled at him.

"Alright alright, no need to yell at me." Ash said, waving his hands in front of her.

"I think it would be better if we take a break. Besides, it is almost lunchtime anyway." Brock said.

"All right!" Dawn yelled again in a happy tone. She straightened up from her bent position, losing her tiredness as she waited to see what kind of food Brock was going to make.

"What happened now? Weren't you tired?" Ash murmured, pouting slightly at her.

"Did you say something, Ash?" She asked, suddenly turning towards him.

"No, nothing." He replied back. Having been with the girls long enough, he knew it was best not to anger them. Who knew what would they do if they were angered?

For some reason, Ash didn't feel as hungry as he normally would, but ate his fill anyway. Dawn didn't notice that but Brock did. He was used to Ash's endless eating but to see him eating somewhat less than he usually would, made Brock wonder if something was wrong. After lunch, the four continued on their way.

"How much longer is it going to take, Brock?" Dawn asked, feeling refreshed after the rest.

"Around another hour or so. After that, we spend one or two hours looking around, and then, we return. If there isn't any delay, we should be back by dinner time. And after that, we note down what everyone has found, to show it to Officer Jenny."

"Awesome!" Ash exclaimed, coming up beside them. "I didn't know you had already fixed everything so well, Brock."

"Of course he would." Dawn said with a sly grin. "He isn't as stupid as you are, is he?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

Another hour passed in silence as everyone quickly walked, eager to cover the distance to the observatory. Dawn, once again feeling impatient, went up to Brock and asked, "How much longer?"

Brock pulled out a copy of the map that Officer Jenny had given them and looked at it for a while. Then, he said, "We are about to reach there."

Hearing that, Dawn picked up the pace and the others, not wanting to be left behind, followed her. Brock had been right, for they reached the observatory in another few minutes. They waited in the bushes to check the surrounding area to see if anyone was there keeping a watch.

Ash, being the impatient one, quickly became bored and started loudly, "Hey guys, why are we…?"

He was shut up by Dawn, who put a hand on his mouth and hissed, "Shhh…!"

"Keep your voice down, Ash." Brock said, while looking around once more. "We don't know if anyone is there or not. It would be better if we don't take any risk, unless necessary."

Ash calmed down and decided to keep his mouth shut, in case he did something that he oughtn't. The four spent another few minutes, giving the whole area a glance once more, not wanting to miss anything.

"Looks like the coast is clear," Brock finally said and got up. He was about to walk out, when Paul suddenly pulled him down roughly.

"What's the big deal, Paul?" Dawn started, when Brock silenced her.

"Look." He pointed towards the door.

Ash and Dawn turned towards where he pointed, wondering what their companions had seen. When they did, they were glad Paul had pulled Brock down, for someone was coming out the door.

It was a woman. She had a slim and healthy body. She had blue eyes and long, auburn hair that reached down to her waist. She had tied her hair in a long ponytail. What stood out the most about her were her clothes – the Team Rocket uniform.

 _There doesn't seem to be anyone with her._ Brock thought as they all wondered who she was and what she was doing there.

"What a night!" She said, stretching herself. She gave a huge sigh.

"You really shouldn't be out there, in plain view." Another voice was heard from inside the observatory, as the four spies perked their ears.

 _It seems like a man's voice._ Dawn thought. _So there are two people so far, and only one has showed herself fully. Are they the ones who raided this observatory?_

"Come on, you are just being jumpy." The woman said, turning towards the door. Apparently, the man was standing just outside the daylight. "Just because a couple of kids dared to come inside doesn't mean you've got to be so nervous."

"That's right. They _dared_ to come inside _in the middle of the night_. For some kids to come inside at such an odd hour, they have got to be pretty bold."

"I admit they were bold, but they won't come again. That's for sure. That Gengar did scare them away."

"I find that hard to believe. If they could barge in like that fearlessly, there's no way they're going to be afraid just by a ghost-type."

There was a pause between the two talkers. In the meantime, the four trainers were trying to comprehend what they had just heard.

"Who are they talking about?" Ash asked in a low voice.

"A couple of kids, I believe." Dawn replied. "Although, I haven't heard of anyone trying to infiltrate the observatory alone. I mean they are just a couple of kids."

Suddenly, the woman turned towards their direction. The four lied down silently, lest they had been heard.

"What happened?" The man's voice was heard again.

"I thought I heard something." The woman replied. Not seeing anyone or anything around, she said, "Must be my imagination."

"So, at least, we found out that our mind-control machine is working well."

"Yeah, it wasn't able to work on ghost-types, but now it does. That takes care of all the types."

"Probably. Are you sure it also works on fairy-types?"

"Yeah, it does. The only thing left is to test it out."

Another pause followed as the woman stretched herself again.

"By the way," the man started, "have you heard of the rumor about evolution?"

"What rumor?"

"That another evolution beyond the final evolution of pokémon exists?"

"It's supposed to be a rumor, so I find it really hard to believe. Then again, all the champions do have some strange stones with them, which they wear as some kind of fashion, I believe. And I have heard that some kinds of stones are needed to evolve pokémon further. So, I don't know if we should believe it or not."

"It's called Mega Evolution – or so I heard. And we still need to include that possibility in our plan."

"For our machine to include mega-evolved pokémon, we would need to see it ourselves and program it. How are we going to find a trainer who has mega evolution, let alone asking him to evolve his pokémon willingly?"

"You've got a point there. I guess we need to talk with boss about it. Let's go inside."

Saying so, the woman disappeared in the observatory as silence saturated the area.

The four trainers, who had been spying, were now trying to comprehend what they had just heard. Seeing that they needed to talk, Brock signaled everyone to follow him. The other three followed him as Brock led them away from the observatory. After a few minutes, thinking that there was a safe distance between them and the observatory, he stopped.

"What was all that about?" Dawn asked. It seemed that she doubted what she had heard.

"First, there were these two kids who entered the observatory in the dead of the night." Brock started counting on his fingers. "Then, something about a mind-control machine and scaring those kids away. And lastly, something regarding mega evolution."

"And don't forget about testing that machine on fairy-types." Ash added.

"Yeah, and that as well." Brock agreed. He paused as he wrote down the four points in a small notebook he had with him. Looking them over, he considered all the possibilities that could happen regarding the observatory.

"What I think," he finally started, "is that these observatories are being used for some kind of experiment – by Team Rocket.

"And it has got something to do with mind-control – probably controlling pokémon, knowing them." Ash said grimly.

"And one more thing," Dawn added. "There are four observatories total, as Officer Jenny said. We can assume that the same thing is happening there."

"But we won't know that for sure, until we hear what the others report." Brock said, noting down all the points. "Do you have anything to say, Paul?"

"You forgot to include the security cameras." Paul said, sounding somewhat amicable for once. "There are cameras attached to that building and they were in working condition as far as I could see."

"There were?!" Ash exclaimed.

"Good thing you noticed, Paul." Brock said, jotting down the point. "Anything else worth noting that you guys saw?"

"Well," Dawn started, "I guess we have to keep in mind those two's appearance."

"I suppose that's a good point but don't you think they could just as easily disguise themselves? After all, those three always did that." Brock pointed out.

"You might be right," Dawn said. "But what reason could they have to even think of disguising themselves? The way things looked; those two must have spent most of the time there. Besides, it won't hurt to note it down, would it?"

"I guess you're right." Brock conceded and wrote down what he had noticed about the woman. After he finished writing, Dawn read it and nodded, indicating it was a good enough description.

"So what are we going to do now?" Ash asked, finally realizing there was more to the mess he was in than what they could see. It seemed Team Rocket had planned considering every possibility.

"Let's go check around that building. I doubt anyone would come out now." Paul said, getting up.

"Are you sure?" Dawn asked uneasily.

"I agree with Paul." Brock said, getting up as well. "They won't come out again – at least not until it is night-time."

"Then that's settled." Ash said, as he and Dawn got up. "We will go check for clues there."

"Hold on a minute, Ash." Brock said, getting an inquisitive glance from him. "Even though we are going there, it would be better if you stay in the bushes."

"Whaaaaaaat? Why?" Ash asked, wondering about his friend's decision. Pikachu, who had been silently sitting on his partner's shoulder the whole time, looked just as surprised.

"Because this is your home region; you are bound to be famous for winning the Kalos League. That also means your face was shown all over the region and pretty much everyone – including Team Rocket – knows how you look like. You better stay hidden, in case those two happen to come out again. If they recognized you, there's no telling what they would do. I am pretty sure Team Rocket's boss must have warned them about you. There's no reason for us to start a fight here with them. Besides, there're also those security cameras."

"I guess you're right. Just my luck!" Ash said, reluctantly accepting his decision. Normally, he would have denied it and simply barged in the clearing where the observatory stood. But being more mature now, he decided it was better to accept Brock's decision, until they were sure he wasn't a target of Team Rocket. Knowing that he had taken down other teams in other regions, he knew there was a huge possibility that he would be a target in case he started messing with this team as well.

"It's too bad," Dawn started, patting her friend's back, "that all this was to happen _after_ you won the league. Or you might have been able to help us as much as you want to."

"Pika." Pikachu mimicked Dawn's action as well, patting his partner's head. Ash simply sighed in response.

Meanwhile, a few hundred meters above them, the familiar Meowth Balloon was floating – rather hovering – over them, its three occupants wondering what was happening down there. The trio had been heading southeast, knowing that that was the direction Ash had headed. The only other things they could see flying were the Pidgeys and the like bird pokémon living in the forest.

Once they were able to see the observatory, they started scouring the forest below to see if they could see the trainers they were supposed to be a lookout for. The total time for them from finding and filling up the balloon to finally spotting the trainers was almost four and a half hours. From what Brock had been saying, Meowth quickly figured out that the walking distance between Pallet Town and the southeast observatory would take around four hours. So by the time they could see the building, he knew they must have been around somewhere, checking it out.

It turned out that he was right, for they were soon able to see the four huddled in a small clearing almost a mile from the observatory. Wondering what they were up to, the three had kept an eye on them. But now, they were bored.

"Hey Meowth, why don't you go and check what's going on down there?" James asked, in a bored voice.

"Why should I? You go this time." Meowth retorted back.

"Alright alright," James said. He turned to Jessie to ask her the same question but was met with a loud snore. Apparently, Jessie had fallen asleep, soon after Meowth had woken up.

"Looks like I will have to go down." James murmured, getting up. He tossed a rope down into the nearest tree and quickly slid down it. Soon he slid down the tree as well and walked across the clearing to the four trainers, who had just gotten up after sitting for such a long while.

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" James asked, waving his hand as he neared them.

Hearing him, they snapped their heads towards him. Seeing him, they were surprised for a while before their memory cleared and they waved back. They looked up and saw the familiar Meowth balloon – with Team Rocket uniforms stitched in it.

"I thought you were supposed to keep an eye on us." Dawn said, looking at him questioningly as he reached them.

"We have been keeping an eye on you for quite some time now." James said. "But you guys seemed to be sitting here doing who-knows-what, so I came down to check if anything was wrong."

"Nothing is wrong." Ash said. "In fact, we stumbled upon something interesting."

Seeing his inquisitive look, Brock handed over the notes he had just written for James to read. James' eyes widened as he read them all.

"But how did you find so many things in such a short time?" He asked, handing the notes back.

"As luck would have it," Dawn said, "we didn't need to find anything. A woman came out from the observatory, and she and a man talked; those notes are what we heard."

"Awesome!" James exclaimed. "But what are you going to do now?"

"Except Ash," Brock said, "we are all going to check around the observatory. It is a lot less likely that anyone will come out now; they must be probably working on something. We're going to take that chance and check if there are any clues that the police might have missed."

"I see." James said. He turned towards Ash and continued, "Then in that case, why don't you come with us, Ash? It seems like there's nothing more you could do, unless there's something else they will need you for. You can help us keep an eye out for them."

"I guess you're right. No need to waste my energy." Ash agreed and then turned towards his companions. "We're counting on you, guys."

"No need to worry." Dawn said, once again reciting her famous line. "You can depend on us."

Brock nodded his agreement, as did Paul. Nodding at them, they went their separate paths – James and Ash to the balloon, and Brock, Dawn and Paul towards the observatory.

* * *

"Wait right there!" A voice was heard yelling as Gary, Misty and May stopped in their tracks. A police officer appeared from behind a tree and looked them up and down. May felt slightly uncomfortable at being scrutinized closely.

"You must be Gary, Misty and May, right?" He asked, looking slightly relaxed.

"Yeah," The three said in unison.

"Good. I am Officer Jon. You can simply call me Jon." Jon said, extending his arm for a handshake. They shook hands, introducing themselves. "Sorry for the initial check up. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't some fakes who disguised themselves."

"That's fine." Gary said. "You must be the officer who is going to be a lookout for us. Am I right?"

"Yeah, me and my team; we will help you in any way possible."

"Thanks very much." Misty thanked them as other officers showed themselves up from their hiding places. There were total five officers, including Jon. While the other four were going to keep an eye on all the four sides, Jon was going to help them with their investigation.

The four subordinate officers quickly disbanded and hid themselves in the bushes on all four sides, in such a way that they could guard one side of the observatory _and_ keep an eye on two of their colleagues next to them.

In the meantime, the four including Jon went towards the observatory.

"How long have you guys been here?" May asked as they were walking.

"An hour I think." Jon replied. "There hasn't been activity here so far."

"Hey Jon," Misty said, gaining the officer's attention. "Officer Jenny told us some officers had gone into one of the raided observatories and that they never returned. Which one was it?"

 _I guess she must really trust you if she told you all the details._ Jon thought. To Misty, he replied, "Well, as much as I don't want to tell you, I guess you will need the truth if we are going to solve this case together. The observatory we first investigated was this very one – the one in front of you."

Hearing this, the girls at once stopped, as May asked somewhat shakily, "This is the one?"

"Yeah. We arrived an hour ahead of you and tried to find clues to see if we could figure out what had happened, but it seems we will have to go inside the observatory to see that. As a matter-of-fact, we completely combed this surrounding area for clues, but didn't find any, except those fingerprints of Ash Ketchum that day."

"I see." Gary said thoughtfully. After a small pause, he asked, "But you never went inside again after the officers didn't come out, did you?"

"Nope." The officer stared at the researcher for a while, and then his eyes widened. "Don't tell me you are going inside!"

"Maybe." Gary replied pensively, much to the shock of the other three.

Meanwhile, inside the observatory, unknown to them, they were being watched.

"Great, just great! Another batch of idiots!" A voice exclaimed loudly. "Will you take care of them, Pete?"

The response was light snores coming from a corner of the room. The owner of the voice sighed and got up. Walking towards the opposite side of the room from where Pete was sleeping, the person reached for a button. As soon as he pressed it, horizontal slits opened in the wall and bars were pushed out of the holes. He quickly climbed up the ladder and reached the room above – the main room of the observatory. The man pulled out a pokéball from his pocket and released its occupant.

"You know what to do." He simply said. A grunt was the reply. The man, leaving the pokémon in the room, swiftly went towards the ladder and climbed down it. After reaching the underground room, he hid the ladder just like it had been and went towards the screen to see what this 'bunch of idiots' would do.

Back outside, the four were looking around the whole building once again for any clue that might have been missed, although Jon didn't seem too optimistic about its result. It must have been the tenth time that the area was being combed for clues – and they hadn't found any in the last eight times. What was the possibility they would find anything new in this search?

After a half an hour, the four met once again to report if anyone found anything. As Jon had expected, there was nothing new to see.

"Looks like we have got to enter," Gary said, looking at the building, "to find out the real clues to this case."

 _They don't look afraid at all._ Jon thought, looking at the trainers' determined expressions. _Then again, no one knows what happened inside, and it seems like they want to get to the bottom of this. I wonder if they'll go to any length to help Ash._

"Let's go." Jon said, going up to the door and removing the tapes that they had placed. The other three followed him as they all entered the observatory, ready to face whatever was inside.

* * *

"Do you think we should go check the inside of the observatory?" Iris asked, looking at her companions. They had followed the same procedure as the police, looking outside the building for clues after making sure no one was watching them. As expected, they hadn't found anything; the police had already taken care of that.

"I guess there's no other choice, is there?" Cilan asked.

The four decided to enter the observatory, much to Jake's frustration. He knew where all the cameras were and also knew that they were being watched – by people other than the police. He didn't want to get into any trouble for being seen with the trainers he was supposed to keep an eye on. With the cameras watching their every move at the moment, he couldn't even oppose the idea to enter the observatory, not without having a good enough reason.

Although he and Sadie had decided to do this, they hadn't yet told their boss about their ideas. Having been with the older Team Rocket members, he knew that once he had joined them, there was no turning back – he preferred life over death any day. One of those members had said that all the people, who decided to oppose the Team, were dead – died due to unnatural, unexplained causes. Same thing with those people who aroused even the slightest amount of suspicion in their fellow colleagues: they died due to unexplained causes as well.

Neither he nor Sadie knew how true the tales were or who was responsible for those deaths, but he certainly didn't want to question their accuracy, in case they turned out to be true. As long as the two were loyal to the organization, they were going to be treated well by both, their boss and the older colleagues.

Currently, the four had decided to enter the observatory. Jake, though, was feeling slightly apprehensive about what was to come.

"Hey, wait a second," Iris suddenly said, as they were walking towards the door, "Where is this fog coming from?"

"Now that you mention it," Cilan said, looking around. "It is getting somewhat difficult to see."

The four stopped, wondering where the mist was coming from. The police officers, who were hiding in the bushes keeping an eye on them, came out as well. All of them quickly huddled and chose one direction each to check in. There wasn't any water body for miles around; hence, the sudden appearance of a mist was suspicious to the group. Wondering what was producing it, they quickly separated in their selected directions to find its source.

As soon as everyone was far enough, Jake quickly ran back to the observatory. When he reached the clearing, he paused to take a breath. It didn't take him long to see that the fog was thicker than it had been a few minutes ago. He was about to run again, when he suddenly felt a jolt that sent him sprawling.

He looked up to see a shadow standing in front of him. Suddenly, the mist cleared and the shadow turned into a woman with a Croagunk, standing by her side.

"Alice…" he muttered irately, looking at the woman.

"Well, well, if it isn't Jake." Alice said, looking down at the sitting teenager. "What were you doing with the enemies, by the way?"

Jake had anticipated the question. So, he quickly told his senior about what had happened until then. "And that's why we decided to join them."

The woman started laughing at him. "I can't believe you're so stupid. In case you don't know, there are better ways out there to keep an eye on someone."

She started walking away, still laughing at him. Jake clenched his fist, keeping a check on his anger.

"Well," he said, gaining her attention. She looked back as he continued, "I answered your question; not that it has got anything to do with you. You're probably trying to put me down because you are jealous that we have been going up in boss's estimation of us."

Hearing this, Alice gritted her teeth, for he had hit the nail on the head. She _certainly was_ jealous and she _certainly had talked_ like that to put him down. Not wanting to show him that he had said the truth, she straightened her face and said, "Do whatever you want to. I don't think boss is going to be happy with you today. That's all I can say."

She started walking away as Jake said, "You better tell him the truth, especially when we're going to contact boss tonight to report what had happened so far. I don't think he would take lightly to your dishonesty."

Saying so, he started walking away as Alice gritted her teeth again. "Fine, you win this time."

Jake smirked as Alice disappeared. The mist faded away as well. Wondering what he should do, Jake started walking towards the observatory. He stood in front of the door, wondering if he should risk going inside to see how things were going on. He was about to enter when Trip appeared out of the forest.

Trip gave him a suspicious glance, wondering what he had been doing here. He was about to ask that when Iris and Cilan appeared. Soon, everyone had returned. Having found nothing suspicious, the police, as decided, went back to their hiding places. The other four trainers were about to enter, when Jake said, "Hey wait a second, guys. Don't you think we should get back? It took us three hours to get here, and dinner time is almost three hours hence. Shouldn't we return by then?"

"Now that you mention it," Iris said, looking at the clear sky, "we will have to get back soon. We won't be back on time if we enter the observatory now."

"I guess you have a point there." Cilan said.

"But how long do you think it will take to search this building?" Trip asked, looking at the observatory. "Probably around half an hour or so maximum."

" _If_ nothing delays us." Iris added. "We don't know what to expect inside this building. Sure, we need to find the reason why all this is going on and why Team Rocket is doing this but we need a whole day to figure it out and find all those clues. As much as I hate it, we will need to postpone this search."

"I agree with Iris." Cilan said. "Let's go back now. We'll see how early we can get here tomorrow."

Conceding, Trip nodded, as Jake called out all the police officers. Explaining to them, the four started their return journey as the policemen went back their paths, deciding to meet early if there was no change in their plans.

* * *

"Something wrong, Sadie?" Serena asked, concerned. She had noticed Sadie was walking quite slowly, and she and Clemont had hung back to see what was wrong.

"Oh, nothing much. It's just this wound." Sadie replied, pointing to the bandages on her left leg. She had been walking slowly, wondering how to escape the sight of video cameras that she and Jake had fitted in all the observatories. She didn't want to be caught with the people on whom they were supposed to keep an eye on. But hanging back without any reason meant drawing attention towards herself – the one thing she didn't want to happen.

"It isn't hurting, is it?" Clemont asked, looking at it. She turned towards him as he looked at the wound.

"Just a little. Nothing that I can't handle." Sadie replied.

"Well, if you say so." Serena said.

The three started walking in silence, enjoying the cool breeze blowing through their path. After an hour, Serena grew tired of the silence and decided to make small talk.

"Hey Clemont," she asked, gaining the inventor's attention, "how much longer is it going to take us to reach the observatory?"

"I think another few minutes." Clemont said, looking at the map that Officer Jenny had given him.

Suddenly, Sadie dropped on her knee, much to the other two's surprise.

"You okay?" Serena asked, as she and Clemont walked up to her.

"Yeah, this bandage has just loosened quite a bit." Sadie replied, trying to fix the bandage. "Don't worry guys. You two go ahead. I will catch up to you in a bit."

"You sure you don't need any help?" Clemont asked, adjusting his glasses.

"Yup, just go ahead. We can't really waste too much time."

"You have got a point there." Clemont said. "Well, in case it takes you too much time, the observatory is just a mile or so ahead on this path."

"Got it."

Leaving her behind, Serena and Clemont started walking ahead. Clemont was right, for the two reached the observatory in a few minutes. They looked around in the clearing to see if anyone was there. There didn't seem to be any policeman present.

 _I wonder if Sadie is on her way here right now._ Serena thought, looking down the path they had just come through. _It has been quite some time. I hope she's okay._

They had started wondering what had happened to Sadie, when they suddenly heard a rumble coming from behind them. The rumble seemed to get louder as they turned to see what the source was. They were greeted by a terrifying sight.

It was Sadie, and behind her was the source of the noise – a rampaging Rhyhorn. Terrified, Serena and Clemont started running as Sadie reached them, yelling loudly, "Run guys, or you'll be trampled by that Rhyhorn!"

"We don't need a second invitation!" Serena yelled back. She and Sadie were running ahead and Clemont a few feet behind them, with the Rhyhorn a couple of feet behind Clemont.

They kept on running randomly, just wanting to evade the Rhyhorn. Soon, Clemont, affected by the running, started panting loudly and yelled at the girls to help him. Serena, realizing the danger Clemont was in, pulled Sadie with her and jumped into the bushes at the side of the path. Taken by surprise, Sadie hit her head on the ground while Serena waited for Clemont to catch up.

As soon as Clemont reached in front of her, she quickly pulled him out of the rampaging pokémon's way and started panting by the sudden strain that this exercise put on her. Meanwhile, the Rhyhorn soon disappeared round the bend, leaving behind a cloud of smoke.

"Where did that Rhyhorn come from?" Serena asked, out of breath.

"I don't know," Sadie replied, rubbing her head.

"I just hope it doesn't return." Clemont panted.

"You two just rest here." Sadie said, getting up. "I will just go and check if I can see the Rhyhorn."

Saying so, Sadie ran out of the bush and in the direction that the Rhyhorn had taken. In the meantime, Serena helped Clemont recover. In a few minutes, Sadie returned out of breath and shook her head, indicating they weren't in danger anymore.

"It seems like we can finally go back to our jobs." Serena said, sighing in relief.

"But where are we?" Sadie asked, looking around.

Clemont suddenly started feeling uncomfortable and looked around quickly, then looked back at the map in his hand. "I hate to say this, girls, but it seems like we are lost."

"What?" Serena asked disbelievingly. "We are lost?!"

"Yeah," Clemont replied gravely. "There's no use looking at the map; I forgot to mark our position."

"Great!" Serena said, sighing. "Now, we will need to find a way out of this. I wonder how long it will take."

"Wait a minute here, guys." Sadie said, looking around. "I will just climb a tree and see how far we are from the observatory."

"Don't tell me you are going to climb up to the top!" Serena exclaimed. "Are you sure about it?"

"Yeah, don't worry." Sadie said, as she chose a tree to climb. "I am used to climb trees. I'll be fine."

"Chespin!"

Chespin suddenly appeared out of his pokéball and tapped his chest. He looked at Sadie and tapped himself again. "Chespin!"

"Chespin," Clemont asked, "Do you want to go to the top with Sadie?"

"Ches." Chespin nodded, looking at Sadie.

"Sure, you can come along." Sadie agreed with a smile, picking up the grass-type and placing him on her shoulder. "It won't take long."

In a few minutes, Sadie was standing at the top of the tree and could look around for miles. She could easily see the observatory far away from where they were.

 _I can't believe we ran this far from the observatory!_ She thought, looking at the faraway building. _It must be an hour or so from here – which means if we want to reach on time we will need to run. But I can't lie to them, not with this pokémon being on my shoulder. Guess I'll have to walk slowly again. But this time I will have a reason._

Meanwhile, in the observatory, there was a surprised look on the man's face who had been watching the surrounding area.

 _I am pretty sure that was Sadie._ He thought, replaying the particular clip. _Although why she was around here in broad daylight with those two kids is a mystery. And she couldn't tame a rampaging Rhyhorn? That's one thing I can't believe. I have seen her tame even the wildest of Dragonites. I wonder what's been going on since those two raided these observatories._

* * *

Max gave a yawn and got up. Looking around, he realized there wasn't anyone in the room. He stood up and stretched, then went outside the room.

 _Isn't anyone in?_ He thought. _I wonder what time it is. It feels like I just slept for a decade._

He went towards the living room to see if anyone was there. On his way, as he was crossing the girls' room, the door suddenly flew open – right in his face.

"Ouch ouch!" Max cried out, holding on his nose. Apparently, the door had hit him on his nose.

Bonnie appeared through the door, yawning loudly. She rubbed her eyes and stretched, then yawned again. She looked around and spotted Max holding his nose.

"Oops, sorry," Bonnie said, looking concerned. "I guess I didn't expect you out here."

"That's fine." Max said, trying to ignore the pain.

"Do you know where everyone is?" Bonnie asked, closing the door and looking at him questioningly.

"I have been wondering that myself." Max replied, looking back at her. "From the way you say, it seems like the girls aren't in either, am I right?"

Bonnie nodded as the two made their way to the living room. "I wonder where they are."

"Oh, you two are awake."

The two kids looked up to see Ash's mother standing there. She had an empty laundry basket in her hands – apparently, she had just finished doing laundry.

"Where is everyone?" Bonnie asked.

"They are helping the police solve the case; you know that, don't you? Right now, they must be checking out the observatories."

"What?!" The two cried out in surprise. "Why didn't they wake us up?"

"You two were sleeping like logs. Even after they made loud noises, you just kept on snoring. You must have been quite tired."

 _Oh… I guess that's why it felt like I slept a decade._ Max thought. Out loud, he asked, "What time it is now?"

"It is almost lunch time."

"WHAT?!" The two yelled out even louder. "It is lunch time!?"

"Yeah," Delia replied. "You were so tired; I bet even if we had all yelled together in your ear at once, you wouldn't have woken up."

 _I didn't realize we were this tired after the last night's adventure._ Max thought. Bonnie seemed to have the same thought going through her mind.

"Do you want some breakfast – or should I say lunch?" Delia asked, looking at the two kids in front of her. Although she didn't show it, something that Gary had told her earlier troubled her.

Max and Bonnie didn't need to answer; their stomachs did the job. Delia gave a smile and asked the two to follow her to the kitchen. In a few minutes, they were seated, hungrily wolfing down their lunch as Delia continued making them food. As soon as the two finished, Delia turned towards them and seated herself.

"Thanks for the food!" Max said, getting up. He was about to run when he heard Delia ask him to wait.

"Before you two leave, I want to ask you something."

"What is it?" Bonnie asked, getting up as well.

"Gary told me he found you two this morning, looking ready to fall asleep any minute. You were coming from the field. What were you two doing so early in the morning?"

"Uhmmm… about that," Max started, sweating slightly. "Uhm… well…"

"You see," Bonnie suddenly interrupted. "Max wanted to show me how to earn a pokémon's trust. That's why we went to the forest. We went in the morning because, you see, pokémon usually come out early in the morning from their homes, so that was the best time for us."

"And yeah," Max added, "You see, yesterday, we slept through the evening, so we didn't need to sleep through the night."

For a moment, Delia had a confused expression, worrying Max and Bonnie that she might have seen through it. Then, she smiled, "You should have told me, at least. There was nothing to hide, was there?"

"It was just that we didn't want to bother you." Max said.

Before the conversation could go on, Professor Oak's voice interrupted them, "Delia!"

"Delia!" Professor Oak called again, this time sounding louder.

"Here!" Delia called back.

Professor Oak soon appeared in the room. He was about to say something, but noticed Max and Bonnie. He smiled.

"I see; you two are awake. Do you mind helping me with all the pokémon?"

"Coming!" Saying so, the two quickly ran away; glad to be rescued from lying anymore.

"I will leave them to you, Professor." Delia said. Professor Oak nodded in response and left the room, leaving Delia to herself.

 _Something's not right._ Delia thought, looking back on her talk with the kids and their reasoning. _They seemed to be hiding something. I wonder what it is. Hmmm… I guess I will have to wait for the right time to find the answer._

* * *

 **Once again, THANKS FOR ALL THE FAVES, FOLLOWS AND REVIEWS so far. That's all I can say right now.**


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

"I wonder what happened. They are still not back." May said worriedly.

It was past dinner time. Everyone, who had separated, had come back to the lab, except Serena, Clemont and Sadie.

 _They should have been back by now,_ May thought, _considering they had gone to the closest observatory. I wonder if they ended up in some trouble._

They were about to start a search for the missing trainers when they saw something coming through the darkness. It was Serena, Clemont and Sadie, Dawn noted, relieved; but as soon as the trainers got closer, they noticed that Serena and Clemont were supporting Sadie.

Wondering what was wrong, Brock and Misty quickly ran to them, and relieved Serena and Clemont of their burden.

"What happened?" Brock asked, as he and Misty helped Sadie walk. "It seems you have sprained your ankle badly. I can tell by looking at the bandaged joint."

"Why were you guys late?" Iris asked, replacing Brock as he left to get his medical kit.

"It's a long story." Serena replied, sighing. "We'll tell you what happened after dinner."

Sensing that the three trainers were tired, everyone decided to wait until they were ready to tell them themselves. Dinner passed quickly with everyone filling themselves, hungry from the day's adventures. Soon, everyone was sitting in the living room.

"So," Cilan started, "what happened?"

Knowing that the question was directed at her and Clemont, Serena began to tell what happened after they reached the observatory.

* * *

 _Clemont and Serena looked up the tree that Sadie had climbed, wondering what was taking her so long._

 _"_ _I hope Chespin isn't troubling her." Serena said, knowing how excited the grass-type pokémon could get._

 _"_ _I know he's a little… unruly." Clemont said. "But I am sure he knows how dangerous it would be."_

 _"_ _I am not too sure." Serena muttered, recalling some of Chespin's outrageous pranks and the trouble they had caused them during their journey. Nevertheless, she knew Chespin had matured, even if just a little._

 _Soon enough, they heard leaves rustling and looked up again to see Sadie jumping down branch-to-branch. Worried about her friend's safety, Serena called, "Be careful, Sadie! You might end up hurting yourself._

 _Sadie jumped to the second branch from the ground as she called back, "Don't worry! I am used to this. I won't slip or fall."_

 _Just as she finished, she jumped on the last branch. Suddenly, without warning, her foot slipped and she ended up falling on the branch on her back, before somersaulting and falling on her feet on the ground. She landed with her right foot on its side, the sudden loss of footing, making her give a small squeal._

 _"_ _Are you okay?" Both Serena and Clemont asked, as they went to check on her, concerned._

 _"_ _I guess I got a little ahead of myself there." Sadie said, scratching the back of her head and sweat-dropping._

 _"_ _You should really watch before you jump like that." Serena slightly berated._

 _"_ _Sorry to have worried you." Sadie apologized. She started to get up, when she felt pain suddenly shooting through her leg. She dropped down, holding her right ankle tightly. Feeling the pain subside, she let go of her ankle to see what was wrong. Clemont and Serena, too, wanted to see what was wrong, although Clemont already had an idea._

 _Looking at her ankle, Clemont noticed it had already started swelling up. There was also a bruise on the ankle and it had already started looking black-and-blue._

 _"_ _Looks like you sprained your ankle quite badly," Clemont said. He quickly pulled out some bandages he had and bound them tightly against her ankle. "I guess that would do for a temporary solution. Brock would patch it up later."_

 _"_ _Can you stand up?" Serena asked, holding out her hand for her to grab. Sadie smiled and grabbed it then pulled herself up. She put some weight on her right foot to see if she could handle it. At once, pain shot through her foot as she stifled a squeal._

 _"_ _I guess you guys will need to help me." Sadie said awkwardly. "I hate being a burden to you."_

 _"_ _No worries!" Serena said with a smile, supporting her. Turning towards Clemont, she asked, "Do you mind checking the map to see if there's a river or stream running around us? We first need to do something about that swelling."_

 _"_ _Wait a minute." Clemont said, pulling out the map. After a few minutes of studying the surrounding area, Clemont looked up and said, "There's a small river half a mile east of here. We can go there and wash the bruise."_

 _Nodding, Serena helped Sadie, with Clemont leading the way. In a few minutes, they reached the river. Pulling off her shoes and the bandages, Serena placed Sadie on the bank of the river and said, "Just put your ankle in the water. It's cool enough to soothe the pain."_

 _Saying so, the honey-blonde performer took their bags and placed them under the shade of a nearby tree._

 _"_ _Thanks Serena." Sadie said with a smile._

 _"_ _Anytime," Serena replied smiling, "That's what friends are for."_

 _"_ _That's what friends are for." Sadie repeated quietly to herself, her eyes wide. She didn't know if she should consider it to be surprise or shock._ After all, no one had ever said this to me. Even when they don't know that I'm lying to them, they still trust me this much. Sigh, I guess I'll never be able to repay them.

 _"_ _Hey, are you alright?" Serena asked, waving her hand in front of the girl. "You spaced out for a while."_

 _Sadie shook her head to clear her thoughts and smiled. "Sorry about that."_

 _"_ _No worries."_

 _"_ _Hey girls!" The two girls turned to see Clemont beckoning them over. After checking Sadie's injury, the two, with Serena helping Sadie, quickly made their way to where Clemont was._

 _"_ _What is it?" Sadie asked._

 _"_ _I found a better place for us to rest. We can look at your injury as well." Clemont replied, pointing down the stream._

 _He led the way and the girls followed. They soon came across a shaded area near the bank of the river. A flat stone rose from the ground on the edge of the river like a readymade seat, specially made for them. Placing Sadie on the stone, Serena once again told her to put her sore ankle in the cool water to reduce the swelling as much as possible._

 _In the meantime, Clemont took off his heavy bag and pulled out a small medical kit. Quickly applying some soothing ointment, he bandaged her ankle securely._

 _"_ _This will make do for a temporary solution." Clemont said, looking at the bandaged ankle. "It would be best to let Brock check it afterwards."_

 _The three sat there quietly, enjoying the calm of their surroundings. The calmness, though, was interrupted by a growl. Serena and Clemont looked at Sadie, who had her hand on her stomach._

 _"_ _I guess I forgot about food in all the excitement." Sadie said, scratching the back of her head, feeling embarrassed._

 _The two smiled as Clemont said, "It's understandable; it's almost time for lunch."_

 _In another half an hour, Clemont was done making their lunch. Another half an hour passed by as the three ate their fill and then cleaned out the area._

 _"_ _Is your ankle fine now?" Serena asked Sadie as she helped Clemont clean the last bits that indicated their presence._

 _Sadie placed her foot gently on the ground and tried standing up. She felt slight pain but it was nothing compared to what she had felt earlier. "Seems fine now. Just some slight pain but it's nothing to worry about."_

 _"_ _It'd be better, though," Clemont said, looking at her, "if you don't completely put your weight on it – just to be on safe side. Your ankle was quite badly sprained."_

 _"_ _Don't hesitate to ask for our help if you need it." Serena said with a smile. Sadie looked at them with a surprised expression for a while, before returning her smile cheerfully._

 _"_ _Let's retrace our steps now." Clemont said, pulling out their map. "It seems like we have walked quite far from the observatory – about a couple of miles or so."_

 _"_ _And there doesn't seem to be any path near us, is there?" Serena said, looking over Clemont's shoulder. Sadie mimicked her action as well._

 _"_ _There isn't." Clemont said. "But there seems to be a small path branching off the main one, half a mile from here. It goes directly to the clearing where the observatory is. We can make up for the lost time."_

 _The two girls watched as Clemont pointed where the path started and then ran his finger along it, ending near one of the crosses on the map – the observatory's location._

 _"_ _Well then, let's go." Serena said, getting up._

 _"_ _Wait a second." Sadie suddenly said, getting inquisitive glances from the other two trainers. "I just remembered that this way isn't really safe. I had gone there once when I was younger. I do recall it was quite unsafe."_

 _"_ _Are you sure?" Clemont asked skeptically. "Are you sure this is the same one?"_

 _"_ _Positive," Sadie replied. "I am pretty sure this was the same one. I just don't remember what the danger was, though."_

 _Serena wasn't as skeptical as Clemont was for she believed her friends – as long as it wasn't in a haunted house in the dead of the night._

 _"_ _But you could be wrong." She said._

 _"_ _Well, there's a possibility." Sadie shrugged her shoulders. "After all, I was quite young then."_

 _"_ _In that case, we will just remain alert while going down that path. Better be safe than sorry." Clemont said, as the three started retracing their steps._

 _Another hour passed before they reached the fork in the road, their speed slow due to Sadie's injury. Apparently, the sprain hadn't healed as quickly as Sadie had thought. As long as there wasn't much movement, her ankle didn't hurt. But 'no movement' was something that Sadie found quite hard to achieve, for she wasn't used to sit in one place for an extended period._

She has been trying to hide her injury for quite some time now. _Serena thought, looking beside her. Sadie was trying to walk normally, without her help._ Apparently, she hates depending on anyone.

 _"_ _Alright," Clemont said, gaining the girls' attention. "This must be the fork. We've got to turn left on here."_

 _He pointed towards a barely visible path, disappearing a few meters ahead in the bushes. If it wasn't for the arrow on the tree which marked the branch off in the main road, they wouldn't have been able to see it._

 _Serena looked towards the path and suddenly felt apprehensive. "Are you sure we should go through there? The path is hardly visible and the bushes growing on it are quite thick."_

 _"_ _Well, it must have been unused for a long while." Sadie said, looking at the path._

 _"_ _And then there is this 'danger' thingy that Sadie told us about." Serena added, looking at Clemont._

 _Clemont considered what the girls had told him before saying, "Well, there's nothing much that we can do. We have got to reach the observatory fast to compensate for the lost time. Either that or we take the extra-long route we had taken while being chased by that Rhyhorn."_

 _"_ _I wouldn't mind taking the longer route." Serena murmured, still feeling uneasy. Sadie, though, was willing. "Let's take the shorter way out."_

 _She didn't want to get in the cameras' range at the observatory, but after getting her ankle sprained unexpectedly, she wanted to rest. And the best place was just out of the cameras' range that only she knew the exact location of; so that she could keep an eye on them as well see how things were turning out to be._

 _"_ _I agree with Sadie." Clemont said, and then turned towards Serena. "You don't have any problem, do you?"_

 _"_ _None."_

 _Clemont turned and started walking over the path, followed by Serena and Sadie. A few hundred meters in, Serena noticed some strange green-colored hanging objects that looked like crescent-shaped moon. Although they weren't many of them around them at the moment, in another few minutes, she could see almost every single tree harboring five to ten of them._

 _"_ _Uh, Clemont," she started, "what are these green things that are hanging around us?"_

 _"_ _What?" Clemont looked up from the map. He had been checking if they were still following the path correctly or not. It wasn't a surprise for the path was practically invisible._

 _Clemont looked around, wondering what Serena meant. When he saw what Serena was pointing at, he paled slightly and suddenly took a step back, almost stepping on Serena's foot._

 _"_ _Is something wrong?" Serena asked, slightly alarmed at Clemont's pale face._

 _"_ _Shhhh…" Clemont shushed her down and asked the two girls to follow him quickly._

 _While the three silently started running, Sadie looked around and realized at once why Clemont did what he did. Looking at Serena, who was still looked confused at his fear of these 'lifeless' objects, she whispered, "Although they look dead, these aren't just objects. Those are Kakunas – the preceding evolution of Beedrill. And if Kakunas are around, there are sure to be Beedrills around as well. That's why we are better off not making much noise here."_

 _Sadie was running rather slowly, owing to her twisted ankle, but she was still able to run fast enough and keep up with other two, who were running slowly so as to keep themselves from separating._

 _Even after running for quite some time, Clemont realized that the number of Kakunas kept on increasing. It seemed that they had ended up stepping in a whole nest of the bugs. He suddenly slowed down and started walking slowly._

 _Surprised by his sudden decrease in speed, the girls slowed down as well, as Sadie asked, "What's wrong?"_

 _"_ _It's better if we sneak out of here." Clemont replied. "There are just too many Kakunas around. If we run, it might startle the Beedrills. I'd rather not risk that."_

 _Looking around, Serena realized that the inventor was right. There were quite a lot of Kakunas around them than there had been minutes ago._ Guess we have to waste another hour or so until we are out of this part.

 _Suddenly, Sadie gave a stifled scream and held her ankle tightly. Serena and Clemont quickly glanced back – Serena, concerned, and Clemont, tense. Even a slight noise could prove dangerous for them. After all, no one ever wants to be chased by a whole swarm of Beedrills._

 _Swiftly running up to her fellow companion, Serena asked, "What happened? Is your ankle hurting again?"_

 _"_ _Yeah," Sadie replied, holding her ankle tighter as pain shot through her leg. "But this time it feels much worse. I guess I broke my ankle."_

 _Suddenly, all the Kakunas turned towards them, staring at them with their black, beady eyes. Feeling apprehensive, Serena helped Sadie up, as Clemont caught up to them._

 _"_ _I am suddenly feeling uneasy, guys." Serena spoke up, looking at all the staring pokémon. "Very uneasy."_

 _Suddenly, a whole swarm of Beedrills appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them, their wings buzzing and eyes glinting with anger._

Uh-oh, _Clemont thought. "RUN‼‼"_

 _On cue, the three started running – rather, Serena and Clemont dragged Sadie and ran as fast as they could; the Beedrills on their trail. Once again, Clemont couldn't bother himself with marking their position; he was too busy thinking of a way to evade the dangerous bees behind them._

 _"_ _Hey Clemont," Serena said, looking at him. "Don't you have Luxray on you right now? Maybe, we could shock and paralyze them."_

 _"_ _No," Clemont replied back, getting tired due to all the exertion. "It is better not to anger them any more than they already are. Though, I wonder what upset them."_

 _Although they didn't notice it, they were running back the way they came, albeit it was through the forest this time._

 _"_ _Stop pulling me, it hurts!" Sadie yelled, as she felt her ankle throb._

 _"_ _We're sorry, Sadie." Serena said, as calmly as she could in their situation. "We first need to escape the Beedrills first. We'll tend to your ankle after that."_

 _Sadie could only grumble back. They kept on running for another few minutes, trying to dodge the following bees by going any way they could._

 _After another five minutes, Clemont, just as he was about to pull out Luxray's pokéball as their last resort, suddenly lost his footing and fell headfirst. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the impact. But instead of the apparent crash on the ground, he felt himself get wet – from head to toe._

 _Clemont's loss of footing ended up pulling the girls along with him, as they all fell in the river that they had left just an hour and a half ago. The Beedrills soon caught up to them, and once again surrounded them, ready to attack._

 _"_ _Serena!" Clemont shouted. "Ask Braixen to use any fire type attack. Beedrills are weak against fire-type."_

 _"_ _All right," Serena replied back, pulling out her trusty partner's pokéball. "Braixen, use Flamethrower!"_

 _Braixen appeared in front of them and attacked the Beedrills with a flamethrower. Of course, it wasn't enough to knock out any of them; they were wild, so they were used to being assaulted quite a lot. Serena realized that using flamethrower on only one side wasn't enough; they were surrounded and she was the only one who had a fire-type pokémon._

 _Quickly arriving at a solution, Serena ordered, "Braixen, jump and use flamethrower while spinning."_

 _Braixen followed her commands, jumping above their heads, spinning quickly and used flamethrower. This time, the flames burnt all the surrounding beedrills._

 _Taking advantage of the situation, Serena and Clemont pulled Sadie once again and ran, with Braixen following, watching their backs. The Beedrills were covered with smoke, so they couldn't follow the trespassers until the smoke cleared. By the time the smoke cleared, the trainers, along with Braixen, had disappeared. The Beedrills, acting like humans, separated to find them._

 _Meanwhile, the three trainers, who had disappeared, were sitting on a branch of a nearby tree, hiding in the leaves and watching the Beedrills. They had somehow managed to pull Sadie up as well and were, now, waiting for the beedrills to leave._

 _Watching them separate, Clemont asked, "Doesn't it seem like the Beedrills are humans that are trying to find their prey and stop it from running away?"_

 _Serena shivered slightly. "It's good that they don't have human intelligence. I don't want to imagine what would happen if beedrills could think like us; they wouldn't let us go alive."_

 _Clemont, this time, shivered, although it was noticeable. "Do you have to say something like that?"_

 _Serena sweat-dropped and gave an awkward smile. Turning towards Sadie, who had been resting, she asked, "Does your ankle hurt now?"_

 _"_ _What does it look like?" Sadie snapped at her. Serena was taken aback by her sudden retort, the emotion was visible on her face. Looking at her, Sadie sighed and said in a calmer voice, "Sorry for snapping at you. It's just that I hate letting you guys do all the work just because of such a small injury."_

 _"_ _You broke your ankle. It doesn't sound like a 'small' injury, you know." Serena said, smiling awkwardly at her. Sadie's loss of temper seemed out of place to her._

 _"_ _Hey look," Clemont said, getting their attention. Pointing towards the river, he said, "The Beedrills are returning."_

 _The two girls looked where he pointed to see the beedrills returning. It looked like they were having a meeting to see if anyone found out the trespassers. In a minute, the area, where they were, was completely empty of the dangerous bugs; the beedrills having gone back._

 _Clemont sighed in relief and then turned towards the girls. "I can't believe how persistent they are. We probably wouldn't have been able to evade them, if we had kept running."_

 _He quickly climbed down the tree, much to Serena's surprise; she had expected him to be afraid of falling down._

Well, some things change. _Serena thought, as she helped Sadie down. Soon, all three were back on the ground, wondering what they should do next._

 _"_ _What time is it, Serena?" Clemont asked._

 _"_ _Just a sec," Serena said, pulling out her guidebook – the one she had while travelling Kalos. The guidebook had details about only the Kalos region; it was pretty much useless if the owner were travelling somewhere else. "It's almost one o' clock."_

 _"_ _And we have got to get back by seven." Clemont said thoughtfully. "With Sadie's broken ankle, it would take an hour and a half to reach the observatory – since we take the longer route. From there to back home is a walk of almost two hours. Again, considering Sadie's injury, it might take half an hour or so more. So, if we have to get back on time, we'll have a couple of hours to look around the observatory."_

 _"_ _And with just two people to look around," Serena said, realizing what Clemont meant, "It would mean a waste of time. Either we look around, or inside the observatory."_

 _"_ _I am not really looking forward to going inside." Clemont murmured._

 _"_ _Did you say something?" Serena asked. Apparently, she hadn't heard Clemont's murmuring._

 _"_ _What I said," Clemont started, sweat-dropping, "was that we better hurry. We can decide what to do later. With Sadie out of commission, it will sure take quite a lot of time."_

 _"_ _I am really sorry, guys, for all the trouble." Sadie apologized. Her apology was genuine; she couldn't even fake anymore, not when exposed to such compassion – the one thing she had been away from for a long time._

 _"_ _Don't worry." Serena said._

 _"_ _We are used to it." Clemont added. "Ash used to get injured quite a lot of times whenever helping pokémon. You can say he trained us to help anyone injured – without having to depend on a doctor all the time."_

 _"_ _He seems like an interesting character." Sadie said. "I wonder just how carefree he is."_

 _"_ _That's why I end up worrying about him most of the time." Serena said, before she could stop herself. Once she realized what she said, she started blushing._

 _Sadie noticed her blush and gave a knowing smile. Seeing the smile, Serena started wishing for the ground to open up and swallow her. Sure, she did worry but she had never ever said it so openly. Clemont, in the meantime, looked shocked at her forthright assertion._

 _"_ _You don't mean to say," Clemont started slowly, staring at the performer, "that you like Ash, do you?"_

 _"_ _Uhmmm… well," Serena wanted to reply, but her position made her impossible to speak. She just wished to disappear from there; she hadn't expected that Clemont would directly ask her._

Now even, Clemont knows. _Serena thought._ Sadie, too, knows about it, despite being with us for only a couple of days.

 _"_ _Let's talk while walking." Sadie interrupted the somewhat tense moment, much to Serena's relief. Taking her advice, the three started walking – Serena supporting Sadie._

 _One and a half hour passed in silence, with Serena and Clemont switching places every fifteen minutes. For Serena, though, the first few minutes were a long, painful, awkward silence. She couldn't bring herself to speak during that time, constantly berating herself for letting her tongue loose. After that, she sighed to herself, knowing there was no use hiding it anymore – after all, everyone, other than Ash, knew about her 'crush'; she wasn't sure, though, if it had turned to love yet or not._

 _Deciding to forget about it for a while to focus on their main job, Serena had spent the remaining time looking around in the forest – they couldn't do the 'main job' until they reached the observatory. Soon enough, they were just a few hundred meters away from the observatory. That was when Sadie realized she would end up in trouble if the organization found out about this._

 _"_ _Just leave me here, would you?" Sadie suddenly asked, much to Clemont's surprise; he was supporting her at the time._

 _"_ _Are you sure?" Clemont asked._

 _"_ _Why don't you sit at the edge of the clearing while we do our job?" Serena asked. "That way, you could help us as our back up_ and _get some rest as well."_

 _"_ _I would have done that." Sadie said ruefully. "But as luck would have it, I forgot to take my pokémon from the lab. They were being treated, right?"_

 _"_ _Oh, I see." Serena said thoughtfully. "That's too bad."_

 _"_ _Yeah," Sadie said. "I would just end up getting in your way. That's why it is better for me to stay out of sight."_

 _"_ _I guess we have no choice, do we?" Clemont said, letting go of the yellow-haired girl._

 _"_ _I guess I haven't been much help to you." Sadie said contritely. "Sorry about that."_

 _"_ _Nah, don't worry." Serena said, dismissing her apology. "You just rest here while we check out the observatory."_

 _"_ _Here's some food; you might need it." Clemont said, handing her a small basket. Apparently, he had made some small packets of food, in case they had to separate. "We'll be back in a couple of hours."_

 _"_ _Thank you very much." Sadie thanked them gladly. She wanted some time alone to herself as well as some time alone with Jake to think about and discuss their strategy after this._

 _Leaving Sadie to rest, the pair of trainers walked the last few hundred meters to their destination. After a rough start, they had finally managed to make it up to there._

 _Looking around, Clemont said, "Serena, you take the left side. I will take the right."_

 _"_ _Come on out, Braixen, Pancham, Eevee." Serena said, pulling out the pokéballs._

 _"_ _That's a good idea." Clemont said, releasing Chespin and Luxray._

 _"_ _Alright everyone," Serena said, looking at all the pokémon. "We are going to search for any clues that the police might have missed. This is very important since we've got to help Ash out of the mess he is in. So, give it your all, okay?"_

 _All the pokémon cheered in response. Apparently, Ash was as popular among pokémon as he was among people._

 _The two groups quickly separated and went their ways, carefully examining each and every inch of the surroundings. An hour passed before the groups met again – apparently, the clearing was quite large even with all the individuals searching._

 _"_ _So did you find anything?" Clemont asked, as the two met up._

 _"_ _Nope, nothing," Serena replied in the negative. She was feeling slightly sad, but shook it away, knowing the police had done their job. "Can't you invent something that would help us?"_

 _"_ _I could, but it would take time and there's no guarantee that it would work. Besides, it might explode."_

 _"_ _That's true as well." Serena sighed. "What should we do?"_

 _"_ _Chespin!"_

 _"_ _Huh?" All the pokémon as well as the trainers looked up, from where Chespin had called. Chespin was above them, standing on a branch of a nearby tree, looking curious and somewhat suspicious. He was staring at the building in front of which the whole group was standing._

 _"_ _What is it, Chespin?" Clemont called to his pokémon._

 _"_ _Ches chespin pin ches." Chespin wanted to convey something; he was pointing at the observatory. The rest of the pokémon understood what he said and looked at the observatory, examining it closely. The pair of trainers, not understanding what was going on, followed their line of sight._

 _"_ _Why are you staring at those black circles?" Clemont asked, referring to the black circles lining the outer wall of the observatory at a height of around six feet from the ground. Apparently, they were painted on the walls as a slight design or pattern._

 _"_ _Braixen braixen."_

 _"_ _Do you want to say something's wrong with those circles?" Serena asked, finally realizing what the pokémon wanted to say. Braixen nodded._

 _"_ _Ches."_

 _Chespin beckoned them. Conceding to his wish, Clemont climbed up the tree and came up beside the grass-type pokémon. Chespin pointed to the circles once again and Clemont turned to them._

 _After seeing what those black circles really were, Clemont realized they wouldn't have bothered checking them if it wasn't for Chespin's watchful eye._

 _"_ _I see what you meant." Clemont told his pokémon and once again carefully scrutinized the circles._

 _"_ _What is it, Clemont? Did you find something?" Serena called to the inventor._

 _"_ _Yeah, let's get out of this clearing." Clemont replied, climbing down with Chespin on his head._

 _"_ _What? Why?"_

 _"_ _I will tell you once we get out of this clearing." Clemont said, returning his pokémon to their pokéballs. Although confused, Serena followed his lead and returned her pokémon as well._

 _The two went inside the forest away from Sadie; they were at the opposite side, having met up halfway through their search. Serena was thoroughly confused but followed him anyway. Once they were far enough from the observatory, Clemont stopped and faced the direction they had come from._

 _"_ _What was all that about?" Serena asked, finding it hard to quell the suspense._

 _"_ _You see," Clemont started. "Those circles weren't just there for design. From where Chespin was standing, we could see cameras fitted in there."_

 _"_ _What?!"_

 _"_ _Look, the sunlight is behind me right now. From where Chespin was standing, we could see the camera because the sunlight was being reflected off their lens. All the black circles have almost a similar sized hole in them with cameras fitted inside. The cameras have the same color as the holes – that's why it's not possible to see them from the ground. Even the cavities must have been colored with the same shade."_

 _"_ _I see. So basically, anyone coming inside the clearing would be watched from inside the observatory. In other words, we were being watched the whole time we were here."_

 _Clemont nodded and added, "That's not the only point. There might be microphones with the cameras as well – to eavesdrop on anyone. So anything we discuss in its range would be easily heard by the enemy. Looking at them, they looked like cameras that a spy would use, so they are bound to have just as powerful a microphone."_

 _"_ _Now it makes sense why you asked me to follow you out here." Serena paused, suddenly realizing something. "But that means we'll have to go back to Sadie all the way around that clearing."_

 _"_ _True; which also means we'd probably waste another hour just getting to Sadie."_

 _"_ _Great. We just can't have a normal day, can we?"_

 _Clemont shrugged. Serena sighed._

 _"_ _Let's go," she said. "We'll run as far as you can, and then we'll walk the rest of the way."_

 _"_ _Today's a really bad day." Clemont stated, as the two started making their way back._

* * *

"… and then, we spent another hour getting to Sadie, before spending the rest of the time getting back here." Clemont finished; he and Serena had taken turns to explain what had happened, although they had carefully left out Serena's slip of tongue.

No one had interrupted them while they explained what had happened. It was already ten in the night by the time they finished. Almost everyone yawned. Max and Bonnie weren't sleepy yet, having woken up at around noon.

"Long story short, you had a really bad day." Gary said.

"Yeah, you could say that." Serena sighed in relief. She yawned again. "We'll discuss about others tomorrow, I guess. I am tired."

"Yeah, let's talk tomorrow." Iris agreed with her.

Following their advice, everyone went back to their rooms – Max and Bonnie as well, for next time, they wanted to be a part of all the adventures. By the time everyone was sleeping, it was midnight.

Sadie, who had a small alarm clock by her side, woke up; she and Jake had already decided they would talk about their strategy after everyone was sleeping. There was no way they would get any other time to discuss it peacefully.

She got up and somehow dragged herself out of her warm, comfortable bed, despite having a broken ankle. Right outside the door, on the porch was Jake, wearing a sweater. He beckoned her over, holding out a blanket. She quickly made her way beside him and wrapped the blanket around herself, as Jake pulled out their Holo Caster.

Quickly putting through a call to the headquarters, the two waited for the other end to be picked up. After a few seconds, the call was picked up by the boss himself – for some reason, he had kept the device with himself.

"What is it?" He asked heatedly, having the night disturbed by the phone call.

As much as the two hated to call him at such an odd hour, they quickly explained to him all that had occurred from the time they last called. They also told him that they had sent him a list of all the trainers' pokémon along with their attacks and weaknesses – other than the usual ones, of course.

Giovanni looked thoughtful, carefully going over what they had told him. Finally impressed with their work in just a couple of days, he nodded, indicating they had done good work.

"The information you sent is going to be useful for me." He said. "Good work, both of you."

The two simply nodded back.

"Do what you think is right," Giovanni continued, "as long as it will help us. I trust your decisions; don't disappoint me."

Once again, the two nodded and the call was disconnected.

The two sat back, staring at the stars, as silence saturated the area. Sadie sighed.

"It is fun, isn't it?" She started. "Hanging out with them, I mean."

"Yeah, I guess." Jake replied. "But we shouldn't forget about our mission."

"Yeah." A pause followed. "It was fun while it lasted. Too bad they are so friendly; I wonder if they have ever experienced betrayal from anyone."

"I doubt they have, or they wouldn't be so friendly."

Another pause followed as the two stopped their small talk.

"So… what should we do?" Sadie asked, disturbing the stillness of the night.

"Well," Jake started, looking thoughtful. "I guess they will want to go inside the observatory tomorrow."

"Which means…" Sadie prompted.

"What I think we should do is go inside the observatory first, before any of them. After that, it wouldn't take long for us to get out of their contact – after all, the main day when the plan begins is two days hence."

"I guess you're right." A pause followed by another sigh. "We don't have any choice, do we?"

"As much as I hate to say it, we won't have any choice until after the plan begins. I guess after the successful start, boss will let us free for some time."

Another sigh followed.

"Let's sleep." Sadie said, getting up. "We have to wake up early, after all."

Jake followed her, and the two went inside to sleep, waiting for the next day.


	16. Chapter 16

**Welcome back, friends! Last time, I forgot to add an author's note, so I am writing at the end of this chapter what I should have written in the preceding chapter.**

 **That aside, first enjoy this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 16

"You have found quite a lot," Officer Jenny said, "in fact, more than I had expected."

It was nine o' clock in the morning. Officer Jenny had turned up to discuss whatever clues the trainers had found and this time, join them as well; she had been busy with other cases the previous day, so she hadn't been able to help.

"From what I can see right now," she continued, "it seems like they have planned in detail; I wonder what the plan is, though."

"Four radio observatories, disappearance of people inside them, some kind of mind-controlling machine, security cameras, Team Rocket," Clemont counted on his fingers. "It doesn't sound like a good combination."

Everyone else nodded.

"It doesn't really make much sense to me." Ash said.

 _It'll never make sense to you._ Misty thought.

"I don't know what their goal is," Cilan started, thinking and trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle in his mind, "but it seems like the combination of radio observatories and mind-controlling machine; it seems like they want to control pokémon with the help of those two. As far as security cameras are concerned, they could be used to keep an eye outside the observatories."

"If you put it that way, it makes quite a lot of sense." Brock replied, pondering on what Cilan said. "But Team Rocket's goal was always capturing rare pokémon; I don't remember them getting this hostile before."

"I know why they didn't feel this hostile before." Dawn said with a serious face. The others turned towards her, wondering how she knew. Pointing towards Meowth, who was sitting beside her, she said, "Because we were followed by these three idiots."

"Hey, are you implying that we can't be hostile?" Meowth asked, glaring at her. The others burst out laughing. "Stop laughing. This isn't funny."

"Alright alright," Iris said, calming herself down. The others sobered down as well, although now, they felt less tense; apparently, they needed to relieve themselves, for they had been unknowingly getting anxious due to this problem.

Finally calming themselves down completely, once again they returned to their task.

"I guess we need to know their plan well enough to try and stop them." Gary said.

"There are two ways to do this: either go to the headquarters, or if possible, hack into their database." Officer Jenny said.

Everyone turned towards the old trio, who noticed their stares. They suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Don't stare at us." Jessie said, looking away.

"Yeah, don't. We don't know where the HQ is." James said, copying Jessie's action.

"If we knew, we would have already told you." Meowth said, looking away as well.

"Who said we were going to ask you that?" Officer Jenny asked.

"What?" The three looked back towards them, surprised.

"Since you three used to be their part, you would be the best to help us right now." Brock said. "One of you must know how to hack a computer system, right?"

Pointing towards James, the other two nodded together.

"Whaaaat?! Don't tell me…" James started, looking at them.

"Yep, you're going to be the one to try and hack the Rocket database."

"Why me?" James murmured, and then sighed.

"Clemont can help you." Serena added. Clemont nodded in agreement.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" James murmured. Fortunately, no one heard him.

"That takes care of the hacking part. I guess we just have to wait now, right?" May said, sitting back.

"No," Officer Jenny replied. "We shouldn't waste more time; there's no guarantee they will be able to hack easily. Don't underestimate them."

 _That's right. Don't underestimate us._ Jake thought, as he pushed a button on his Holo Caster; he had kept it in his pocket last night and had forgotten to put it back. _This will make sure you waste your time trying to hack us._

"Why did you say you don't know where the HQ is?" Officer Jenny asked.

"You see, they modified the HQ so that they could move it anywhere they want." Jessie said. "We don't know how it moves or where does it go, but we can say that they must have made sure not to place it where we knew it used to be."

"You mean to say that they move the whole building?!" Clemont asked astounded. He had heard of moving heavy things with cranes, but had never heard of being able to move a whole building, complete with its people, like that.

"I see. Just like Brandon's Battle Pyramid, right?" Officer Jenny asked.

"Yeah." Jessie nodded.

"There really exists such a building?!" Serena asked amazed.

"Yeah, and I battled Brandon there; he's the king of the battle pyramid." Ash stated.

"Did you defeat him?" Bonnie asked fascinated.

"He sure did." Max said nodding. "That was an awesome battle."

"That was a really amazing battle." Brock said, thinking about his friend's battle. "He was up against Regirock, Registeel and Regice."

"Wait," Clemont said, realizing something. "Aren't those three legendary pokémon?"

"Yep," Brock nodded.

"And you won against them?!" Bonnie said – or more likely, yelled – at Ash.

"Hey, come on, it isn't really a big deal." Ash said, feeling embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head.

"Hey Ash," May called, getting his attention. "Have you decided yet if you want to be a frontier brain?"

"Not yet," Ash replied.

"So when will you think about it? Oh wait, I forgot. You can't think about such things, right?"

"Are you teasing me?"

"Just forget about it." May said, sighing. Serena chuckled quietly at the two.

"Hey guys," Clemont's voice interrupted them. The inventor looked up from the computer screen; apparently, he and James had already started working on their job.

"What is it?" Officer Jenny asked.

"It seems like it is going to take up quite a lot of time cracking all the passwords."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know why, but they have kept a ridiculous amount of security passwords to get to the database. We are not even sure if the folders inside the database have a password themselves."

"Just as I thought," Officer Jenny said. "They must have somehow known that we would try this."

Sadie, who had been listening quietly to the whole conversation, sharply turned towards Jake. Jake looked back at her and, seeing the questioning glance from her, gave an imperceptible nod. Getting the fact that Jake must have pushed that button, she turned back towards the group.

"Guess we've got to find the HQ, right?" May asked, sighing.

"Yeah," Officer Jenny replied, "but before that, we are going to check out one of the observatories."

"We are?" Max asked, surprised. Considering what had happened when he and Bonnie had gone there, he wondered about the decision. Bonnie seemed to have same thought going through her mind, for he caught her questioning glance from across the room.

"Of course we are," Ash said, looking at him. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Well, not really," Max replied hesitantly.

"Or are you just afraid?" May asked with a sly grin.

"I. AM. NOT. AFRAID!" Max yelled at his sister.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," May said, sweat-dropping at his behavior.

"Stop it, guys." Brock said, stepping in. "It looks really immature."

Seeing that they had followed his advice, Brock went to Officer Jenny and asked, "Which one are we going in?"

"Why not start with the one where we first went?"

"Well, that must be the one where we saw that woman."

"What direction was it in?"

"Southwest of here; a four-hour walk."

"Not there again! It's too far." Dawn suddenly whined.

"Just because you tire out easily doesn't mean we shouldn't go there." Ash stated.

"Yeah, I know that." Dawn sighed. "We'll have to go there because the disappearance of police officers occurred there."

The others sweat-dropped at the coordinator.

"You know what," Officer Jenny said in an effort to comfort her, "there is no need for everyone to come. Only four of you will be enough; the others can stay here and train their pokémon."

"That's great!" Dawn said, straightening up at once. "I will stay here to train all the pokémon."

"Where did you get all that energy from?" May asked, sweat-dropping at her friend's antics. Dawn didn't hear her though.

"Anyway," Officer Jenny started, getting the rest's attention. "Who is going to come along with me?"

"I will." Ash said at once.

"Me too," Serena and Misty said together. They exchanged glances and smiled.

"Me too, me too," Bonnie said enthusiastically. Max couldn't help but glare at her; he wanted to go with them.

"You won't go, Bonnie." Clemont said immediately, coming up behind her; apparently, he had been listening to their conversation.

"Hey, come on, let me go." Bonnie complained, pouting at her brother.

"No you won't. Other than not being a trainer, you will just be in their way; they can't really waste their time looking after you, you know."

"I promise I won't get in any trouble. Now, can I go?"

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"Let her come, Clemont." Ash said, siding with Bonnie. "We'll keep an eye on her. Don't worry!"

"What you mean is _we_ will look after her, not you." Misty whispered. Fortunately for her, Ash was too far away to hear her, or he would certainly have snapped back at her. Serena did hear her, though, and she couldn't agree more. Instead of him keeping an eye on the young girl, they would end up looking after _both_ of them.

Brock, deciding this was wasting too much time, said, "Hey Bonnie, why don't you stay behind? I will teach you how to take care of a pokémon when they are ill."

"Really?"

"Yeah, after all, you will need to know that if you want to go on your own journey."

"Alright! Let's go."

Bonnie started walking towards the yard with Brock in tow. He gave an apologetic grin, before leaving the room.

"You are too hard on her, Clemont." May said, looking at the inventor. "Why don't you let her go?"

"I would have," Clemont replied, staring at the door through which his sister had just left. "But she's too energetic and being her older brother, I am supposed to keep an eye on her."

"I understand that. But you could let her go at times, you know. If not, how do you think she is going to learn to stand on her own two feet?"

Clemont couldn't answer her question, but he understood what she meant. There was no way Bonnie would be able to do anything herself if she wasn't trained in her years as a pre-trainer.

He sighed. "Fine, take her with you next time. Just make sure nothing happens to her."

"Good."

"Now, who else is coming with us?" Officer Jenny asked, after everyone was settled.

"I will." Cilan said instantly. "After all, you will need a detective to solve this case, won't you?"

Officer Jenny nodded. "Let's go then."

* * *

"What are we going to do when we reach there?" Ash asked impatiently.

It had been a couple of hours since they started, and he had been feeling impatient. Sure, he knew the observatory could be far and it was possible that it would take more time to solve this case, but he was itching for an adventure; he had never spent more than a few days at any place, and he really wanted to start on a new journey.

"Can't you calm down for a while?" Misty asked, frustrated by his impatience.

"I suppose you are just eager to start a new journey, aren't you?" Serena asked with a small smile.

"Of course!"

"Pika!"

She chuckled lightly at the two's antics. Sure, she was feeling frustrated as well, but it was more due to sticking around the same place rather than due to Ash's impatience; apparently, she had picked this trait up while travelling with Ash, and now, she felt like she couldn't stick to the same place for an extended period.

"Well, we just have to solve this case and you will be free to travel wherever you want." Cilan said, looking at Ash.

"I wonder how long _that_ will take." Ash sighed.

"Don't worry," Officer Jenny said, turning towards the other three. "If this is just the usual problem that Team Rocket creates, it won't take too long."

 _Although, I doubt it is as trivial as it looks on the surface._ She added to herself.

"Well then, all we can do is hope it's just trivial." Misty said. "Although, I wish you were able to bring your car here, officer; we would have been able to reach all the observatories earlier."

"I would have if I could." Officer Jenny replied, looking ahead of them to prevent them from missing the path. "As it is, I can't – not on such a narrow path anyway."

What she said was quite true, for the path was really narrow – only wide enough for three humans to walk together _if_ they squeezed beside each other. So, they had divided themselves into groups of two – Cilan and Officer Jenny ahead, Serena and Misty behind them, and Ash, the last. That way, they could walk comfortably.

"How long is it going to take until we reach the observatory?" Ash asked again, hoping to get an answer this time.

"Probably an hour and a half, if we continue at the same pace," Officer Jenny replied.

"So long?!" Ash sighed, his partner copying his action.

"That's why I said you have got to calm down." Misty stated.

Another hour passed in silence, broken only by the tired panting of the five.

Ash was about to ask again when he caught Misty's eye and kept silent; apparently, she had somehow anticipated him to try and ask the question at that particular moment. The rest of the time was just as silent as it had been for the previous hour – only broken by frequent rustling of leaves by wild pokémon.

Soon enough, they neared the observatory, for Officer Jenny slowed down to a stop; she wanted to devise a plan before proceeding. The others stopped as well and surrounded her, waiting for her to speak.

"So," the officer started, "I had been thinking of a plan while on the way here."

The others kept quiet, not wanting to miss a word – why they were so serious about this matter they didn't know, but they knew they would need everyone's help, for it wasn't a usual predicament they were in; after all, it seemed like Team Rocket had planned quite a lot of things for any obstacle in their path.

"Do you all have your pokémon with you?" Officer Jenny asked.

The others nodded.

"Good. Now, this is what I had thought: First, Cilan and I would go inside the observatory to check for clues. One of you three will stand guard at the door and the rest two, out of sight. Since there are cameras fixed in the building, make sure to choose a position where you would be out of range of those cameras, but you should be able to see the person standing at the door. Keep an eye on that person; if she thinks that we are in trouble, she will signal the other two and you three will come inside to check on us. Any questions?"

"Why 'she'?" Ash asked, referring to the time when Officer Jenny mentioned a 'she' keeping guard.

"Because, after we go inside, you and the girls will be the ones outside. We still don't know if you are their target or not, so you need to be out of sight."

Ash nodded in understanding. He still hated the fact, though, that he had to work like that; it just wasn't his style.

"But," Misty said pensively, "why are we going to such lengths? I mean, can't we just destroy the cameras with Pikachu's electricity and then, when they come out to see what's wrong, we capture them?"

"No, because first: using Pikachu's electricity can pinpoint our location; we can't just separate randomly because only I have the map, and second: even if we do manage to capture them, we don't know if there are more of them inside. In case there are, we would end up in trouble."

Misty thought about her response and reluctantly agreed that she had a point. "I guess it can't be the easy way."

"We can't just barge in without being sure that at least one of us manages to escape."

"Do you mean to say we might get captured ourselves?" Serena asked fearfully.

"We have to consider that possibility. We are dealing with Team Rocket here; there's no telling what they are capable of."

"And all of that because that idiot of their boss wants to control all the pokémon." Ash said angrily, hitting his knee with a fist. "I wish he was captured already."

Officer Jenny sighed. "I understand what you feel, but he's too slippery; no matter how many times we try to capture him, he always escapes."

The others looked solemn; apparently, they had an idea of the things happening around here with Team Rocket on loose.

"Anyway, let's go."

In another few minutes, the five reached the clearing where the observatory stood. They stopped as Officer Jenny asked, "Which one of you is going to stand guard?"

"I will." Misty said instantly, not hesitating one bit.

"Alright then," Cilan said.

"You guys," Officer Jenny started, turning towards Ash and Serena, "try to find a place where you will be able to see Misty easily. Don't lose sight of her."

The two nodded in unison. Leaving them in the bushes, the other three made their way to the door. As they neared the entrance, Cilan whispered, "Misty, stay just inside the doorway and out of the cameras' range. That way, they would think that all three of us have entered."

As it was, when Gary, Misty and May had come here the previous day, Misty had noted that there weren't any cameras to keep an eye on outside activity. It came as a surprise for her, for she thought all such hi-tech places were packed with security and precautions.

Now that they were about to enter, she noticed that there weren't any of the black circles in the doorway to install cameras. The whole entrance hall was stripped bare so there wasn't any possibility for a hidden camera either.

It seemed to her that Cilan had picked up on that fact as well, so she nodded. Cilan nodded back as they reached the door.

Officer Jenny and Cilan nodded at Misty who answered with a single nod. The two entered as Misty decided to be alert. She looked back from where they had come, hoping that Ash and Serena had found a perfect place.

Meanwhile, on a branch of the tree, Ash and Serena could easily see Misty standing just inside the doorway.

"Seems like Cilan and Officer Jenny have already entered the observatory," Serena said, looking around for the two's trace.

Ash yawned. "Man, it's too boring. How I wish I was there instead of Cilan! I wouldn't have to keep a watch on them."

Serena chuckled lightly at him. "You know, you wouldn't have been much help there. From the way Cilan seemed to think about this situation as a whole, I can see he would be more useful to Officer Jenny than you."

Ash sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I know that. There's nothing I can do about it right now." He paused. "I don't want to just sit around doing nothing."

Serena put her hand on his shoulder and gave a tight squeeze, with a slight blush on her face. "I can understand you aren't used to just sitting around, but give others a chance for once. I bet they want to help you just as much as you helped them."

Ash couldn't help but smile. "You are the only one who understands me this well; other than Mom and Pikachu of course."

"Pika," Pikachu said nodding.

The electric-type pokémon then jumped from his usual perch on Ash's shoulder to Serena's shoulder and started rubbing his cheek against hers. The result was Serena started giggling.

"Stop it, Pikachu, it tickles." Serena said, laughing at Pikachu's display of affection.

Ash smiled at her. _She looks so cute, laughing like that._

He was too busy staring at her laughing with Pikachu to notice his choice of words.

Finally seemingly satisfying himself, Pikachu jumped back on Ash's shoulder and settled down. They returned to their job.

As soon as they turned, Ash almost fell down from the tree in surprise, for they were greeted by a sight that they weren't expecting at all.

The whole clearing where the observatory stood was covered in some strange kind of fog. Since the two weren't sitting too high, they themselves were surrounded by the haze.

"What just happened?" Serena asked. The concern in her voice was quite clear; she was wondering if Misty was okay or not.

"Wait a minute." Ash said, getting up.

"Where are you going?" Serena asked, seeing Ash go up to the main trunk of the tree.

"I am going to climb up to the top. This tree is tall enough for me to see where this fog came from." He replied, holding on to the trunk and checking to see if he had gotten a good grip.

"Be careful, Ash." Serena replied worriedly. "Sadie fractured her leg coming down from the tree."

"Yeah, don't worry." Ash said with a smile. "There's no way I would fracture my leg; I don't want to be a burden to you all."

He quickly started climbing up like a Mankey, before Serena could say anything. Serena stared at his climbing shadow worriedly, clasping her hands against her chest. _You are too selfless for your own good, Ash. But that is just another of your traits that I am fond of so much._

A few minutes passed before Serena heard him climbing down. She looked towards him as he jumped down on the branch. He briskly made his way up to her as she got up.

"What happened?" She asked worriedly. She, though, felt relieved that Ash was safe.

"It's strange." Ash started, signaling her for them to get down. "When I went to the top, I saw that the whole clearing was covered with that fog. What was strange was that the fog covered only the clearing; I could clearly see the surrounding forest. What is even stranger is that there is no lake or pond or anything like that around. I don't see why there should be a fog in the first place."

The two had already climbed the rest of the tree down by the time Ash finished telling her what he had seen.

"So what are you thinking?" She asked, knowing that there must be a reason for which he had asked to climb down.

"I think we should separate." Ash said. "You go and check on Misty. I saw something interesting out there in the forest which might be the reason for the fog, so I want to check that out."

He was about to run when Serena suddenly grasped his hand. Turning around, he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Promise me you will be careful." Serena said, giving him a firm glance; she knew how reckless he could get, experiencing it firsthand.

Ash seemed confused at first, but then understood her. "Yeah, I will be careful. Don't worry about me. Just go and check on Misty and others."

"Got it," she replied as the two separated.

Ash ran in what was the east direction of the observatory. Soon enough, the fog surrounding him started fading. Picking up the pace, he soon left the fog behind. He stopped and turned around to see the fog. Recalling the direction in which he had seen the 'interesting' thing, he started walking towards south, keeping out of sight of anyone who might see him.

A few minutes passed before he slowed down; apparently, he was near the place where he was headed to. He walked another few steps before stumbling upon a barely noticeable path. He could see that it wasn't much used with all the grass growing on it. But right then, he could also see it was used quite recently; the grass was trampled into what resembled a rough footprint.

 _Like I thought._ Ash thought as he turned to see them walking away from the clearing. _There must have been someone here for such a fog to even appear out of nowhere. He probably had a Koffing or a Weezing or something like that. They can create a fog after all._

He started following the footsteps, all the while being alert to make sure no one saw him, in case anyone was around.

Soon, he reached a clearing – if he could call it that. It wasn't like a normal one with no trees. It seemed like a few trees were cut to clear a small part of the forest. It couldn't be seen from air either, since the surrounding trees covered its presence – that is, unless you could see it from an angle like Ash was able to.

Ash entered the small clearing and looked around. Seeing no one, he looked back the path he had followed. If his sense of direction was right, the path connected straight with the clearing where the observatory stood. Any pokémon could use the move Clear Smog from here and it would go and cover up the observatory. Sure, it would take some time, but it would manage to cover up the path as well.

"Doesn't this seem suspicious, Pikachu?" He asked his partner.

"Pika," The yellow mouse replied.

"Good job coming so far, Ash Ketchum!" A voice suddenly boomed, taking Ash by surprise. He couldn't pinpoint its location since it echoed throughout the surrounding area.

"Who is it?" Ash yelled back, although he couldn't help but feel that the voice was somewhat familiar. Pikachu, too, perked his ears up to try and locate the voice's owner.

"You don't remember me, do you?" The voice said, disappointment evident in it.

This time, though, Pikachu could locate it and pointed towards their left. "Pika!"

"Looks like it's no use hiding anymore, is it?" The voice asked, as the bushes to their left parted and a tall figure emerged.

Once sunlight fell on the face, Ash recognized the man at once.

"Giovanni!" He exclaimed in annoyance. "What have you come this time for? Pikachu again? Or all my pokémon?"

"You are wrong." Giovanni said coolly, much to Ash's irritation.

"Then what is it this time?"

"This time, I will take something precious from you – much more precious than your pokémon."

Silence covered the area as the evil man paused. Ash could almost feel the tense silence suffocating him.

"And that is…?"

"Your life."

* * *

Serena quickly ran towards the observatory, hoping everything was all right.

 _It is strange how this fog appeared right when we needed clear visibility._ She thought as she was able to see the observatory – more specifically, the door.

She had expected to see Misty standing there, but only an empty doorway greeted her. At once, eerie thoughts started going through her mind, each more terrifying than the last. She shook her head rapidly to clear her thoughts.

"Misty, where are you?" She yelled as loudly as she could, hoping to hear her answer back. But the only response was silence.

As much as she didn't want to, she started panicking, wondering what had happened in the short time where she had lost her concentration.

"Misty! Cilan! Officer Jenny!" She yelled again as she reached the door to the observatory.

Feeling apprehensive, she called out her partner, Braixen. The fire-type pokémon appeared beside her trainer and sensed the tense atmosphere at once. Having her partner out calmed Serena down enough for her to focus on searching for her friends. She quickly explained the situation to her partner and said, "We have got to find others."

"Braixen!"

"Let's go inside first." Serena said uneasily; she wouldn't have gone inside if it wasn't for the fact that she could easily lose herself in the forest while trying to find the other three. Besides, there was a larger possibility of them being inside since they had entered and hadn't come out yet.

And so the Pokémon Performer entered the observatory with her trusty partner Braixen on her heels. She didn't know what to expect in the building but she could not be deterred; after all, it could mean her friends' lives.

She went inside and was greeted by the same sight that Max and Bonnie had seen a couple of nights ago - the main room stripped bare with wires running all around her. She might not have been a scientist or an inventor, but she could see this wasn't what a normal observatory should have been like.

She looked around and saw that the wires, although seemingly laid out randomly, were converging at what seemed like the center of the room she and her partner were in. She quickly went to the center of the room, making sure not to trip on any wires with the help of her partner's fiery twig.

Soon enough, she could see the gaping hole in the ground that Max and Bonnie had seen – most of the hole filled with wires going underground and a small part open for two humans to go easily side-by-side, with a ladder attached.

She knew there was a possibility that there would be some Rocket grunts inside but she needed to take a risk to go down there and check if her friends were there.

"Misty! Cilan! Are you there?" She yelled out the question again. "Officer Jenny!"

She strained her ears in the quiet observatory to prevent any sound escaping. In just a few seconds, she thought she heard a sound. For a moment, she thought she had been imagining things, but after exchanging glances with her partner, she knew she had heard right. It was a grunt – as if someone's mouth had been taped and that person was trying to make some noise to gain others' attention.

Serena and Braixen, once again, exchanged glances and nodded. Braixen entered first since she had her burning stick lighting their way for them. Serena followed. They started descending down the ladder, hoping there wouldn't be anyone waiting for them.

A couple of minutes passed before they reached the end of the tunnel; it was difficult for them to descend quickly since the light from the twig couldn't reach more than a few feet.

 _Finally!_ Serena thought, once her feet were on firm ground again. She looked around the room the two were in. _I wonder if everyone is here or not. There doesn't seem to be anyone from Team Rocket, though._

Suddenly, she heard a grunt again. It came from behind the ladder from which they had just descended. The room they had ended up in was quite dark for them to see clearly, but Braixen enlarged the flame to try and see as far as they could.

"Misty, is that you?" Serena asked again, bending slightly towards the ladder. She heard a muffled yell in response. _There's no doubt about it. I can hear the sound coming from beyond this wall. I wonder if it's a secret room or something._

She looked beside the ladder and noticed a couple of buttons in the wall. _I guess one of these buttons open up a secret door or something._

She pressed the one on the top. At once, the ladder in front of her disappeared, much to her surprise.

"What?!" She exclaimed in surprise.

Although she wanted to check if pressing the same button again would reveal the ladder or not, another muffled shout from the other side made her realize that she had less time to waste. She gulped a little and pressed the other button, hoping it would work.

It seemed like her wishes had been fulfilled for the same wall that had been concealing the ladder suddenly moved towards her left, opening a cavity – rather, a door. Curious, Braixen brought up her stick and shot a small flamethrower a few feet inside. In the small light of just a second, they saw another door. Not only that, they also heard shouts from beyond that door along with thumping.

Hearing the noise, the two quickly ran to the other door in time to hear Misty's familiar voice. "Serena, is that you?"

"Yeah‼" Serena shouted back.

She turned and nodded at Braixen, who moved the flaming torch in her hand about, to find a button or a panel or anything that would open the door. The pokémon and her trainer spent a couple of minutes trying to find a button to open the door; the door itself was solid metal with no handle, so Serena assumed it to be opened by a button.

"What are you doing? What happened?" Misty asked.

"The clearing is covered in some strange fog." Serena replied. "And right now, I am trying to find the mechanism that would open this door."

"Oh yeah, about that," Misty said, gaining Serena's attention. "Do you see the right edge of this door? Go there and run your hand along it. Once you encounter a small bump, press it. That should open a panel to your left in the wall. That panel has a button; press it."

Following her instructions, Serena opened the said panel and pressed the button. At once, the door opened by sliding. As soon as the door opened, Misty ran out and hugged the honey-blonde, much to her surprise.

"I am so glad you were able to find us." Misty said, letting go of Serena. "Help me, will you? Cilan and Officer Jenny are still out cold."

"Out cold?!" Serena exclaimed as she went inside with Misty to help. "Whatever happened that knocked you guys out?"

"Team Rocket happened."

"What do you exactly mean?"

"First: this strange fog surrounded us. Then I heard the sound of scuffle coming from inside the observatory, so I went to investigate. And then suddenly everything went black."

Seeing that Serena was still confused, Misty continued, "I will tell you everything later. Just help me get those two out."

Serena nodded as the two of them pulled out their companions from the room with Braixen lighting the way.

"By the way, where's Ash?" Misty asked. She knew Ash and Serena were supposed to keep a watch on them.

"He has gone to check why the fog appeared in the first place." Serena replied shortly."We'll talk later; first let's try to find a way out."

Misty nodded as they came back in the first room. Serena looked around to see if anyone was there, but was only greeted by darkness. Feeling apprehensive, she quickly turned back and pressed the button on the top. Much to her relief, the door closed and the ladder reappeared. Now that she had found her friends, she could see that the ladder was installed inside the wall. She didn't know why such an arrangement was made in the first place, but didn't think much of it.

"How are we going to wake them up?" Serena asked, turning back to their problem on hand.

Misty simply grinned, taking out a pokéball. "Come on out, Starmie."

"Starmie!" The water/psychic-type popped out of its pokéball and appeared in front of its trainer.

Curious about it, Serena pulled out her pokédex and scanned it. _Starmie, the water/psychic-type pokémon. The gem in its centre is called the core and is said to be able to glow with seven colors of the rainbow. Because of its luminous nature, this pokémon has been nicknamed as 'The Gem of the Sea'. Starmie can swim through water by spinning its star-shaped body as if it were a propeller on a ship._

"Wow! Does its core really glow?" Serena asked fascinated.

"Of course it does." Misty replied. "Isn't that right, Starmie?"

"Starmie."

"By the way, Serena," Misty started, gaining her attention, "how come your pokédex gave such a long detailed, you know, note about Starmie? I don't remember any pokédex having every aspect of a pokémon in it."

"Now that you mention it," Serena said, thinking back, "I wonder that myself. I remember searching about Tauros and getting a small note about that pokémon in the pokédex."

"I suppose Gary must have finished working for the pokédex; he must have probably updated all the pokédex in the vicinity."

"I wonder how."

"What's going on here?" Officer Jenny's unsteady voice suddenly interrupted them. The two turned to see her holding her head. Misty quickly helped her up, saying, "Don't worry. We were caught but Serena managed to free us."

"Oh yeah, right," The officer said, and then looking around. "Where are we anyway?"

"I don't know." Misty replied, and then turned towards Starmie. Pointing at the still sleeping Cilan, she said, "Use water gun."

The sudden cold water hitting him woke him up. It was just a short burst but was enough to get him out of his sleep.

"What's going on?" Cilan asked groggily.

Misty returned Starmie as Serena replied, "We'll tell everything later. Right now, we have to get out of here."

Misty helped him up as Serena told Officer Jenny about the ladder in front of them. Nodding, Officer Jenny beckoned the other two over. Braixen shot a flamethrower through the hole in the ceiling for others to see that the ladder went up to the top. Serena, then, started climbing up, followed by Braixen, Misty, Cilan and finally, Officer Jenny.

In a matter of minutes, the five were out of the observatory in the bright, evening sunshine. The fog that had been surrounding the building was gone; everything could be seen clearly.

"So, what happened after we went inside?" Cilan asked, feeling refreshed due to the breeze flowing outside.

"Well," Misty started, "a few minutes after you went inside, a strange fog suddenly appeared out of nowhere and covered the whole clearing. Soon after, I heard the sound of someone falling."

"That must have been us." Officer Jenny said thoughtfully. "Everything had gone suddenly black while we were investigating."

"Same with me," Cilan added.

Misty nodded and continued. "So after hearing that sound, I came inside to check on you guys. As soon as I entered a few feet, I started feeling drowsy and a second later, everything went black. I don't know how much time passed after that, but I woke up, feeling that I was being dragged somewhere. I opened my eyes but only darkness greeted me. I suppose it was good that it was dark or the captors might have done something."

She paused to take a breath. "We were then dragged into some kind of room and were locked from outside. After waiting for some time, I realized no one would know what happened to us, so I pulled out this magazine from my bag and changed it into a cone to use as a megaphone. I kept on yelling as loudly as I could, hoping that you might hear us; at the time, I didn't know I was underground, or I wouldn't have bothered at all. After what felt like an eternity, I finally heard Serena's voice answering my yells. I was so relieved to hear you at that moment."

"So what happened with you? How did you find us?" Officer Jenny asked, turning towards Serena. Serena explained what had happened after the two groups had separated and finished by saying that Ash had gone to check on the fog's source.

"He hasn't returned yet, has he?" Misty asked, looking around.

"He hasn't?!" Serena exclaimed. She ran her eyes all over the clearing to confirm the fact for herself. Seeing that Misty was right, she started worrying. _I wonder where he is right now. It has been quite long since we separated. He hasn't ended up in some kind of situation, has he?_

As soon as the last thought crossed her mind, a huge explosion occurred to the south – as Misty quickly figured out. Not needing to exchange glances, the four quickly ran in that direction; Serena had returned Braixen while they were talking.

Two-thirds of a mile in and they came across a part in the forest where some trees were cleared. At one side were Ash and Pikachu, both of them tired and bruised, and on the other side was…

"Giovanni…" Cilan said, gritting his teeth.

"Who is he?" Serena asked. Even though she didn't know him, she did see an evil gleam in his eyes.

"Team Rocket's boss," Officer Jenny replied angrily; although her anger was directed at the boss rather than the girl.

"What?!" Serena exclaimed. _Now, I can't help worrying. Why is he here? What does he want? Why is he attacking Ash? Why are Ash and Pikachu so bruised? What happened after Ash and I separated?_

She had many questions going through her mind, but right now, it seemed like Ash needed help. She pulled out a pokéball. "Come on out, Braixen."

The remaining three followed her example.

"Come on out, Gyarados."

"You too, Growlithe."

"Pansage, we need your help."

Giovanni, who was still focused on battling, turned to look at them. He regarded them for a while.

"Serena!" Ash exclaimed, relieved to see her. Finding others beside her, he couldn't help but feel reassured. "Misty! Cilan! Officer Jenny! Boy am I glad to see you all."

"I see." Giovanni said, gaining his attention again. Turning towards the boy, he said, "Just don't forget. I won't let you go next time."

Saying so, he disappeared in the bushes he had come from. Seeing him go, Ash and Pikachu relaxed and Ash sighed in relief.

The four ran up to them as Serena put her hands on his shoulder – much like the time she had when they were trying to save Goodra's home back in Kalos.

"Are you okay, Ash?" She asked, unable to hide the relief in her voice.

"Yeah, I am fine." Ash replied, and then frowned. "But I don't know what he wants."

"Giovanni, huh?" Cilan murmured to himself. "I wonder why he appeared now. I thought he would want to hide himself."

"Check Pikachu's injuries, will you?" Ash said, concerned about his partner. He ran towards the electric-type as soon as Serena let him go. Serena followed him as he picked Pikachu up. "Thanks buddy."

"Pika!"

"What happened here? Serena told us you had gone to check on the source of the fog." Officer Jenny asked.

"Well, Serena told you the truth. I _had_ come to check on the source of the fog. But I bumped into Giovanni here." Ash said. "As soon as I saw him, I knew there was something he was going to do. And I was right."

"What did he say?" Cilan asked curiously.

"He didn't say anything about his plans." Ash started grimly. "But when we talked, he did say he wanted something from me, and that just confirmed the fact that I am their target, after all."

"What did he say?" Serena asked curiously. They all had a grave and serious expression on their faces.

"He wants my life."

* * *

"Did the device work?" A voice asked.

Giovanni had just returned to the headquarters after leaving his target, Ash Ketchum. The question was asked by a scientist who had been working on a controlling machine for years.

"Yeah, it worked fantastically. In fact, it turned out to be better than I expected." Giovanni answered.

"Great," the scientist said, sighing. "Should I make more of them?"

"No," Giovanni replied shortly. It seemed like he had something on his mind.

"Okay then, would you mind handing over the device? There are still some glitches in it."

Giovanni handed over the device the scientist was talking about and went back into his reserved office.

"Was the test successful?" His assistant asked; she was seated at his desk.

Giovanni nodded in response.

"Great," the assistant said, getting up from his chair. "Everyone contacted you and gave the message that they were ready. They wanted to know how it is from our side."

Giovanni nodded again. "I will contact them. After that, I will make a move to make sure no one interferes – especially that brat, Ketchum."

* * *

 **And that's it for today!**

 **So what I wanted to talk about was something I have decided on: Starting a new fanfic with Max and Bonnie as the main characters; it will be a sequel to this story. Of course , I have only _thought_ of starting it so I don't have any plot line or whatever for it. What I wanted to tell you guys that when I start writing the new one, it would mostly depend on the readers how the story progresses; the readers will give a topic to write an episode on (every chapter will be like an episode). For example,**

 **1) What region the two kids should go to?**

 **2) What kind of pokémon they should catch?**

 **3) A new travelling companion for them or not; if so, his/her name and background and all those details.**

 **4) What kind of evil team will they face? What will be its name? What will be that organization's goal?**

 **5) Small hints for Max x Bonnie (Yup, I ship them) and if anyone should figure out that small crush (If you remember, I tried to write out small hints between them in this current story)**

 **6) Their experiencing failure (in gym battles or contests or any competition like that) to help them achieve success**

 **7) Ideas for the next chapter (episode) and what kind of characters of the day they should come across and help**

 **It will probably be a T-rated story so minor violence would be fine (but that shouldn't make them look too out-of-character).**

 **I will decide to post the story on the readers' response (Honestly, I hope you like this idea - not that it is new or untried, it's just that I would love to use the many creative ideas that the readers think of while reading a story. Also, if you like the idea, you can PM me the ideas you want to be included in it.)**

 **I really hope to have a positive response from you all.**

 **The other thing is that this fanfiction will probably continue for another ten or so chapters; it completely depends on each chapter's length and how I divide those chapters. And of course, there are these things called 'college' and 'assignments' that I have to work on.**

 **So that's all for today. Have a nice day!**

 **P.S. Don't forget to review this chapter.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Welcome back, everyone! 16 chapters, 106k+ words, 15k+ reads - everything is way higher than I had anticipated while posting the first chapter. I can't say how much it motivates me to continue writing. Sure, this isn't my priority with the college stuff going on, but I am glad to see that so many people like this.**

 **Now, this chapter is what you can call a crucial/decisive chapter that decides the course of the story. Read it to find out.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 17

"You better not be alone anymore, Ash." Professor Oak said grimly. "We can't tell your mother about this."

Ash nodded. His mother, Delia had gone shopping when they had returned and explained what had transpired during their 'small' adventure.

"I know that." Ash said. "But I can't just sit around doing nothing, when Team Rocket is going wild."

" _We_ know that as well." May said, emphasizing the word 'we'. "But there will always be some times when you will have to let someone else do the work for you."

Ash grumbled but no one could hear him.

"But now we know for sure," Officer Jenny said, "that other than Ash being their target, they must have planned something large-scale. Or Giovanni wouldn't show himself so easily."

Jake and Sadie were listening to the conversation seriously – just as much as the others. They knew their boss hated this guy, but they never thought that his hate would be so deep that he would want to kill him.

"Isn't there any other way?" Ash asked, sighing.

"By the way, Ash," Dawn started, thinking back on the tale that they had told them, "how come you were bruised so badly? I mean the winner of the Kalos League shouldn't be so easily beaten."

"Oh yeah, about that," Ash started. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, having feeling stressed out for quite some time. "I know what you are talking about. The thing is no matter how many times we attacked or what kinds of attacks we used, none of them hit him."

"…" No one could believe what he had just said.

"You aren't joking, are you?" Max asked hopefully. He didn't want to believe what he had heard was the truth.

Ash shook his head, much to the young trainer's dismay.

"There was something to it, wasn't there?" Clemont asked Ash. It seemed he was thinking about something.

"I don't know about that." Ash replied. "But what I did see was that none of the attacks reached him. In fact, many of them were reflected back halfway through their path. It was almost like an invisible psychic-type pokémon was controlling them."

"I see." Clemont said, running the gears of his brain.

"Clemont," James's voice suddenly came from the other room. "It's your turn now."

Apparently, the two were taking turns trying to crack all the passwords to prevent too much time from being wasted.

"Coming," Clemont answered back while walking to the other room. James appeared in the living room as Clemont disappeared.

"So you are there target after all, huh?" James asked tiredly. "I must say I am not surprised. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know." Ash replied, sighing. "Not yet anyway."

James yawned; he was tired from working. "I am going to sleep."

The others nodded, understanding. Silence prevailed as everyone wondered what to do next.

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard as the room suddenly shook.

"What?!" Everyone exclaimed, trying not to lose their footing. The shaking stopped as everyone exchanged glances, perplexed.

The first one to move was Ash. He ran outside quickly, yelling, "What was that explosion?! It came from outside."

The others were quick to follow his actions and ran outside, just in time to hear Ash yelling, "Come back here!"

"What's going on?" Dawn asked, voicing everyone's thoughts as they saw Ash dashing towards the Viridian Forest.

"Ash, where are you going?" Serena asked, as everyone started following his steps. As far as Ash was concerned, he had already reached the edge of the forest. Much to everyone's horror, he followed whatever he was following right into the dark forest.

"Quick! We have got to catch up to him!" Sadie said; she and Jake were with the others to see what was happening. They hadn't expected themselves to face a situation like that and had ended up confused; to clarify their doubts about their organization's doings, they had decided to follow them – at least, Jake had. As far as Sadie was concerned, she had followed them on instinct and from Ash's desperate shout, she had an idea that it was related to some pokémon.

 _I wonder if he is after someone who stole a pokémon – probably one of our colleagues, I guess._ She thought, following everyone into the forest. _Though, why would they want to steal a pokémon? Is this really related to the 'good' cause boss had been telling us about? Something fishy is going on here, that's for sure. I think we really need to check out the organization's past. I don't see why the police should be after us if this is really for a good cause._

By the time she finished thinking, Jake, who had been behind her, had caught up.

"Don't you think something's not right?" He asked; those two were the last ones and the others were too focused on following Ash to realize that they were falling behind. "I think this is something we were never told about."

"Yeah, I have been wondering that as well." Sadie said.

There was a pause as they focused on running faster and catching up to the others.

"You know what?" Jake suddenly said, gaining her attention. "With the time we spent with these guys, I think I am forgetting something. I don't remember enjoying like this in my past. In fact, I don't even remember most of my childhood. It's like my memories were erased from my mind."

 _And there's this._ Sadie thought to herself, going over what Jake told her at that moment. _I wonder if he was brainwashed or something. Not remembering your childhood is something I can't believe can happen naturally, unless it's a mental disability or the person is brainwashed._

"I suppose so." She said out loud. "Don't worry. They will come to you when the right time comes."

He nodded at her. Before they could continue their conversation, though, they were interrupted by another explosion from their right. Exchanging glances, they ran towards the direction of the explosion. In under a minute, they came upon the others and a charred part of the forest – smoke was still rising from the burnt trees making it evident that the explosion was recent.

Sadie turned towards others and was about to ask what had happened when she saw their shocked faces. As far as Serena, Brock, Bonnie and Max were concerned, they looked like they had just lost something very dear to them. She turned towards Jake; it seemed to her like he had already seen what she had. Deciding to ask later, she just stood there staring at the charred remains of what was once a part of the lush green forest.

* * *

"Uh… what happened?" Sadie asked hesitantly.

Delia was standing beside her; she had returned from her shopping to see only Professor Oak there with no sign of any of the others. So she had waited for them to return. Not seeing Ash with them surprised her. Professor Oak had already told her everything, so her expression conveyed what she wanted to know. It was an awkward silence between them as the others pondered over what they should reply.

"Uh… well, you see…" Cilan stuttered, but couldn't say anything more. It seemed like they had witnessed something that had shocked them to the core. Officer Jenny, who had been with them, had already gone back to Viridian City, sensing that they needed some time to get over it.

Finally her patience ended, as she yelled at them, much against her usual nature. "What's wrong with you guys? Where's Ash? What happened while I was gone? Why is Team Rocket after Ash? Why are you silent? What did you see?"

She stopped out of breath. No one dared to say anything. They had never seen the cheery woman this angry and they didn't want to be at the receiving end of it. They meekly looked at her after her outburst stopped. Her eyes were shadowed and she looked creepily calm; it was like she had never flared up in the first place.

"You don't have to hide it." She said with a calm voice – the voice they dreaded at such times. "He's dead, isn't he?"

A single tear ran down her cheek, as she tried holding in her grief and anger. She yelled, crying, "He died, right?"

No one could say a word. They just couldn't speak. They could never tell her outright that her son had died. Delia didn't say anything else. She simply left the room to let out her emotions by herself.

Meanwhile, Sadie and Jake couldn't believe what they had just heard. Did their boss really think he was so much of a thorn in his path that he had ended up killing him? Sadie sent a questioning glance at Iris with a little hope that this could be a lie. Iris noticed her glance and shook her head slowly. Seeing her shake her head, Sadie exchanged glances with Jake and gave an unnoticeable nod; the two had a lot to talk about.

* * *

 _Damn it! Why did this happen right now of all times?_ Paul thought to himself angrily. It was night time and everyone had gone to their respective rooms to get some sleep. But He couldn't sleep, not with something like this on his mind. He was never the one to show his emotions but the sudden death of Ash was affecting him. _That idiotic Team Rocket! How I wish they didn't exist in the first place!_

He punched his pillow hard, as if trying to let go of his anger. _He was such great competition. I wanted to defeat him so much after Sinnoh League and I had even gotten the chance. And now, he dies, reckless as ever. … He was a good guy. Never giving up on his friends, always believing them, always giving it his all – there are so many things I learnt from him. … And now, I can't even thank him! Damn that Team Rocket!_

* * *

 _Ashy-boy, huh?_ Gary thought. _That was a nice nickname. Was. A rival, a best friend, and a good companion. Everything you could ask for in your travelling partner. I wonder if he is in heaven right now. How foolish of me! Of course he's in heaven, looking over us, and telling us to never give up like always._

The researcher turned and lied on his side. _I guess I shouldn't keep focusing on past. What has happened has happened. Ash wouldn't want me to dwell on the past. I couldn't really do anything for you, Ash, even though you helped me with countless things – being my rival, teaching me to not be egoistic, giving me the real goal that I wanted to work for. I guess the only things I can do is thank you. Thank you, Ash, for everything you did for me – for us. Thank you very much._

Gary couldn't help but cry. He spent some time crying until he cried himself to sleep.

* * *

Max cried. He couldn't do anything but cry. Brock, Clemont and Cilan didn't say anything; they were busy trying to keep themselves from crying.

"Why Ash!?" Max suddenly yelled, burying his face in his pillow. "Why did you leave us like that? You didn't even keep our promise to battle."

The other three couldn't bring themselves to speak to the crying boy.

"And you always honored a promise."

He stopped as silence prevailed in the room.

"I know it is hard Max." Clemont started, his voice unsteady as he kept himself from crying. "But I know he's alive. Don't worry. Ash would never leave without fulfilling all the promises."

It sounded like he was trying to convince himself, rather than Max, that what he was saying was true.

"Shut up!" Max yelled. "You are only saying this to stop me from crying."

His sudden outburst shocked Clemont so much that he could only stare at the boy. Realizing what he had done, Max quickly apologized and buried his face in his pillow again.

Seeing that everyone was on edge, Clemont decided to not say anything else. Brock and Cilan seemed to share his thoughts as they closed their eyes to get some sleep.

* * *

"Stop crying, Bonnie." May said, in a vain attempt to pacify the kid. "Everything will be fine."

"There's no way everything can be fine." Bonnie replied, crying.

 _The death of someone close to them is something a kid shouldn't go through._ Misty thought, as she too tried to soothe the crying girl.

"Just leave me alone." Bonnie said, turning away from them. She was still sobbing quietly.

The remaining girls looked at each other, and then back at Bonnie.

 _I guess there's nothing much that we can do._ Dawn thought.

* * *

Delia was in her room, quietly sobbing to herself.

 _I can't believe Ash's dead._ She thought. _There's no way he could die so soon. I just know it. He must still be alive somewhere, waiting for us. I can feel it in my heart._

She rubbed away the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath. Hearing some noise as she let go of her breath, she strained her ears and recognized the sounds as Ash's pokémon. She felt a pang of sadness as she realized what the pokémon have been going through; after all, they were a lot closer to Ash than she was.

 _They must be feeling lonely._ She thought. _I wish I could help them, but for them, nothing can replace Ash._

Although she still felt sad, she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. _Tomorrow, we will make a plan to take care of Team Rocket. They have really crossed the limit this time. I won't stay back either. I will try to help them as much as I can. Team Rocket will regret doing what they did._

* * *

"Braixen."

"Pancham."

The two pokémon were trying to calm their trainer down, but it didn't seem to be working. Serena was still crying. It wasn't just the loss of her crush or the trainer she adored; it was also the loss of a close friend who she could blindly trust.

"I am really sorry, guys." Serena said, crying. "But it is too much. I can't even find Eevee. Where did she go? What happened to her?"

As it was, Serena had taken all three of her pokémon with her, but when she had decided to release them from their pokéballs, she had realized that she didn't have Eevee's pokéball with her. After that, it had been a frantic search for the lost pokéball.

After what seemed like an eternity, Brock had finally found Eevee's pokéball. In relief, Serena had opened the pokéball only to realize that it was empty. So, they had set to find the normal-type pokémon.

Even after wasting half a day, they hadn't found Eevee. So, the loss of her best friend, crush and her partner pokémon was too much for her to bear. Somehow managing to keep a check on her emotions, she hadn't said anything for the rest of the time on their way home.

As soon as they had reached home, she had gone to another room to be by herself, not even noticing Ash's mother standing in the living room. Since then, she was there, crying once in a while, and hoping that everything would be all right, with Braixen and Pancham right by her side trying to pacify her.

Serena finally stopped crying and hung her head. Her tousled hair shadowed her eyes and her emotions from her partners, but they could still feel her grief on losing two of the most important things to her.

"They will pay." Serena said in a creepily calm voice. Braixen and Pancham felt shivers run up and down their spines. It was the first time they had ever heard so much hate and anger in her voice. "Team Rocket is going to pay heavily for this."

"Brai…"

"Cham…"

"Just like Ash used to say," she said, looking at the two pokémon. "We won't give up until we take Team Rocket down."

* * *

"I wonder what happened." Sadie said, looking at Jake. The two were in the backyard of the lab on a night walk; they wanted to be left alone to be able to discuss their moves without being interrupted.

"I found out." Jake said grimly. Sadie responded by sending him a questioning glance. He started.

* * *

 _"What was that explosion?" Iris asked, voicing everyone's thought._

 _No one could answer that question. They ran faster hoping that nothing had happened to Ash, who had already run ahead of everyone._

 _Soon, Serena, who was running ahead of everyone with Iris, came upon a clearing – rather, it was a scorched area of the forest. Ash was in the middle of the clearing with his right hand covering his left arm. It seemed like he was in pain as Serena watched him hold his arm tighter._

 _"What happened, Ash?" She asked worriedly, as the others caught up to her. They noticed what Serena and Iris had, and waited for Ash to answer the question. He turned towards them and gave them a brief glance, before turning back to stare in front of him._

 _The others were confused by his response and turned to the direction Ash was staring at. Their jaws dropped at the sight. A whole part of that clearing was burnt black, as if a pokémon had attacked with a Hyper Beam._

 _"What?" That was the only question that came from them._

 _Suddenly, Ash turned towards them and his expression showed horror. He started running towards them as he yelled, "DUCK!"_

 _Even though confused, they followed his advice and ducked; and not a moment too soon, for suddenly a Hyper Beam appeared over their heads. The dangerous attack passed harmlessly over them. Serena looked up and her expression changed to horror._

 _"ASH!" She screamed as loudly as she could. Her scream was drowned by the deafening explosion that followed._

 _Everyone's face had only one expression – shock. The Hyper Beam that Ash saved them from had hit him – apparently, it was aimed for him in the first place. The whole area was covered with the smoke from the explosion. The group of trainers couldn't budge an inch; they could still hear noises coming from the explosion, which, to their horror and shock, they realized belonged to some other attacks._

 _"AAAAAAAAASH!"_

* * *

"And you know what happened after that," Jake paused.

"Yeah, we arrived." Sadie said, recalling what had happened after that.

* * *

 _Sadie and Jake suddenly appeared beside them. They glanced around, and then Sadie turned to them and opened her mouth to ask something. She seemed to have a thought and closed her mouth. She turned to stare back at the burnt area of the forest._

 _"Serena…" Dawn murmured, looking at the honey-blonde performer. It was no secret between them that she had a crush on the raven-haired trainer since she was a child, but now it was clear to them that it wasn't just a crush anymore. Serena looked like someone had just torn away a part of her._

This must be affecting her more than it is affecting us. _Dawn thought. She felt overwhelmed by the sadness she felt due to the loss of her friend. A lone tear made its way down her cheek as she closed her eyes in a vain attempt to stop herself from crying._

 _Brock looked away from the clearing. The clearing itself was completely burnt down. There were no trees, no grass, nothing in that area. Everything was burnt to its very core – making it a reminder of the death of their best friend._

 _"Let's go." He said shakily. "It is no use staying here."_

 _Slowly, everyone turned away from the site – everyone but Serena. She was too shocked to move. Her crush, the love of her life died right before her eyes, trying to save them; she couldn't even say goodbye or tell him her feelings._

 _"Serena," Misty said slowly, going up to her and giving her a slight shove. "Come on."_

 _Serena let the Cerulean City Gym Leader guide her. Misty put her arm around her shoulders and started pulling the performer with her._

 _"Huh?" She suddenly murmured and looked down. She had her hand on the pocket where Serena kept her pokéballs. Although, it wasn't the right time, Misty felt the need to check the pocket. She only felt two pokéballs shake in the pocket._

 _"Serena," she started gently, "Have you only brought two pokémon with you?"_

 _"What?!" Serena cried out, horrified. She pulled out her pokéballs and released them. Braixen and Pancham appeared, but there was no Eevee._

 _"Where's Eevee?" Serena screamed. All the emotions she felt from the death of Ash poured out in that scream._

 _"What happened?" May asked._

 _"Eevee! Where's Eevee? Where's her pokéball?" Serena cried out. "I can't bear to lose her as well."_

 _Tears started pouring out of her eyes. She rubbed them away._

 _"Eevee! Where are you?" She started shouting._

 _Realizing that Eevee was missing, the others started helping her as well, in an attempt to forget what had happened. A couple of hours passed before Brock managed to find the pokéball._

 _Feeling that a small burden had been lifted off her shoulders, Serena opened the pokéball, expecting Eevee to pop out. The pokéball opened, but no Eevee came out._

 _"The pokéball is empty‼" Dawn cried out._

 _Serena's expression turned back to horrified. "Please help me find her, guys!" Serena said, crying. "I can't bear to lose her as well."_

 _"Don't worry, Serena!" Iris said. "We will give it our all."_

 _Serena at once separated from them as everyone exchanged glances. 'She is taking it harder than us all.' – That was the thought going through their mind._

 _They spent almost half a day trying to find Eevee, in an effort to forget about what had happened in that clearing. But that image, that sequence of events had been burned into their minds, and it kept coming back no matter how many times they pushed it to the back of their minds._

 _Half a day passed but they couldn't find the lost pokémon. When Serena realized that she might have lost Eevee forever, she felt empty. Her fedora shadowed her eyes and her emotions from others. They could do nothing for her. They looked at each other and with depressing emotions in their minds, started making their way back home._

* * *

"So that's what happened." Sadie said thoughtfully. "It must have been pretty hard on them, considering they saw that with their own eyes."

Jake nodded. "I don't think what we are doing is for our own good. If I think back on how we were treated so far, I feel like we are simply being used for something they want to achieve."

Sadie thought about her working with their boss, as if following Jake's words. She sighed.

"Well?" Jake prompted.

"I don't know." Sadie sighed again. "I just don't know what we should do now. We can't tell them that we are part of their enemies and we can't support our boss without finding the organization's past."

"Then," Jake started, getting her attention. "How about we help them hack into the database?"

"Huh?"

Jake pulled out their Holo Caster and pushed the button on it. "I guess this will help them."

Sadie realized what he had done. She nodded. "And how is that going to help us?"

"Well, once they hack, we will use the same computer and check the database to see if there's any history related to the organization."

"And if there isn't?"

"We hack into the police database."

"What?! Have you gone crazy?"

"Maybe."

Sadie huffed. "There's no need for you to be so evasive. I have been with you long enough to know that you are planning something."

"Maybe."

"Just tell me already."

"I will tell you at the right time. Now let's get back before they think that we might have lost as well."

They started walking back. Sadie seemed thoughtful.

"Serena must be quite wrecked." She stated.

"What do you mean?" Jake asked confused.

"You didn't notice, did you?" She looked at him. "I can tell Serena has more than just a crush on Ash."

"Just how can you say that? And besides, this is the first time I heard of her having a crush on him."

Sadie sighed. "I will never understand why guys are so dense."

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked, even more confused.

"Nothing much. Just that Serena will need someone's shoulder to cry on." Sadie said and started running.

"Wait! Explain that!" Jake yelled, following her.

But of course, no one knew the whole truth about that attack.

* * *

Somewhere in the Team Rocket headquarters, Ash woke up. He tried to get up, but felt a tug on his hands. Realizing that he couldn't move his hands, he tried to open his eyes, but felt pain shooting through his head. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain to go away. He, then, slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

The room he was in was quite dark; he couldn't see more than a few feet. Even though dark as it was, he did see the vertical bars at the door of the room. It seemed like he was in some kind of prison. He turned to see his hands and saw that he was chained to the wall. The chains were made of what seemed like steel, but they were quite heavy. He looked down at his feet and wasn't surprised to see lead balls attached to them.

 _Looks like I was captured._ He thought. _I wonder how much time has passed since I was knocked out._

"So you are awake, huh?" Ash heard the voice of his captor. At once, he felt angry.

"What do you want from me, Giovanni?" He spat out. Giovanni coolly stared at him. "I thought you wanted to kill me. Why didn't you when you had the chance?"

"My, my, it seems you are quite desperate to die." Giovanni said, faking surprise. Returning back to his normal cold manner, he answered Ash's original question. "I have my reasons for not killing you."

"You better tell me." Ash snapped. "It isn't like I have a chance to do anything while bound like this."

"I will," the evil boss replied, "at the right time." He started walking away.

"And where's Pikachu?" Ash asked him.

He stopped and stared at him with a sadistic look in his eyes. "Do you think I would run the risk of you getting out of here by letting your pokémon be with you?"

It seemed like his question gave Ash the answer. Ash kept quiet, knowing there wasn't much he could do, not with heavy chains hampering his movements. Giovanni started walking away.

"If you really want to know what's happening to your dear Pikachu," he said, stopping for a moment, "I will tell you. Some of my top scientists are experimenting on all your pokémon to find the source of their power and the kind of training they had. After that, we will simply control them and let them rampage around."

Leaving Ash to himself, Giovanni left the room. Ash clenched his fists. _Giovanni! You will never complete your plans and reach your goal. Even if I can't, my friends will make sure of that._

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. He, then, started looking around to see if he could find a way to undo his chains. _I wonder what these chains are made of. They feel like steel but are so heavy. Are they made of lead?_

Suddenly, he felt a wave of tiredness coming. _I guess I must have been pretty beat up. I don't want to sleep but what can I do? I guess I need to rest for a little while before I start thinking of a way out. I need to be alert while escaping from here._

As soon as the last thought crossed his mind, he fell into a restless, fitful sleep.

* * *

Ash woke up again. It took him a moment to realize where he was; he realized it as soon as his memory cleared. He looked around. He seemed to be in a different room this time; the room wasn't as dark as it had been and the barred door was replaced with a thick, heavy, metal door with a small barred slot in it at eye-level. The slot was open so he could see the light beyond it.

He grunted and looked at his hands and legs. His hands were still chained to the wall, but his legs were free now. He wondered what made his captors free them, as he started moving his legs. As soon as he moved his legs, he realized they were numb. His stomach rumbled right then, as if to answer the obvious question cropping in his mind. He sighed.

 _I haven't eaten for quite some time._ He thought. _I wonder how long I slept._

He tried moving his hands. At once, pain shot through his left forearm. He winced as he stopped applying a force. _That hyper beam sure managed to bruise my arm. If I would have been just a second late in reacting, I wouldn't even be alive._

He shuddered. _I need to find a way out of here. But how do I break these chains?_

With the little light coming from the slot in the door, he managed to see that his chains had a small keyhole in them. He sighed, knowing he would have to find their key if he wanted to escape without making a ruckus. _What do I do?_

"What's his condition?"

Ash perked his ears. It seemed like one of the Rocket grunts was asking the question to another. They seemed to be standing right outside the door that separated him from the rest of the world.

"Just checked on him a few minutes ago," another voice replied. "It seems like he is out cold. From the look of things, it will take around another couple of hours before he wakes up."

The way the latter voice talked; it seemed to belong to a doctor. Ash snickered lightly. _Good! They think I am still out cold. I am going to have a couple of hours to figure out how to escape. That should be enough time, I guess._

He suddenly gave a tug to his left arm and regretted it immediately. _I have a couple of hours but how am I going to do this without attracting anyone's attention? I wish I had pokémon with me; it would have been very easy to get out of here then._

A thought suddenly seemed to occur to him as he considered what he had just thought. _Now that I think about it, we trainers depend on pokémon just way too much. A battle – our pokémon take damage; a contest or a showcase – it's still our pokémon that take damage; and even fighting against some organization – it's still the pokémon that take damage. I wonder just when we stopped doing all these things ourselves. It seems to me that we can't fight against anything ourselves. Sure, the pokémon themselves want to help us, but there has never been a time when we, as their trainers, helped them unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. There are always some trainers who abuse their pokémon and yet, the pokémon stick with them. I wonder why._

"Is the device ready?" A voice asked, suddenly interrupting Ash's thoughts.

He scowled, recognizing the voice immediately.

"Almost done, sir," The voice that belonged to the doctor answered.

"Good, what about him?"

"He will probably be out cold for a couple of hours. We won't be able to use the device on him unless he's conscious."

"That's fine. He won't make a commotion."

Ash heard footsteps walking away as his expression changed into a curious one. _I wonder what device they were talking about._

"Uhmmm… sir,"

The footsteps stopped as the voice continued. "I remember you mentioning that you attacked this kid with a hyper beam. But miraculously, he has not only managed to survive that, but also escaped with only minor injuries, compared to what I was expecting."

There was a pause as silence saturated the area.

"I know and I am looking into it. Whatever the interruption was though, I am glad about it. Or I might have lost the chance to complete this plans quickly."

 _Plans? Interruptions?_ Ash thought, confused. _I know the kid they were talking about was me, but what is this interruption that kept me alive? Was that some kind of pokémon?_

He scrapped that thought away as soon as it formed in his mind and shook his head. _There's no way a wild pokémon would want to take damage for an unknown human. Though, now that I think about it, I should have been wounded more badly than I really am. I guess there are just too many questions here that need answers._

He sighed and gritted his teeth. He badly wanted to yell out and try to break the chains on his hands, but knew that such a shout would lead to fatal consequences, especially when Giovanni didn't mind a bit if he had to kill him.

He knew his left arm was bruised, so he started pulling on his right arm. A few minutes passed as he tried to yank out the chain from the wall, but wasn't successful. There had been a moment when he thought he had felt the chain loosen a bit, but the thought and the little hope it gave were destroyed when he tugged harder and felt his wrist aching; apparently, he had been using too much force for his own wrist to handle.

He stopped after a while, tired of the exertion; the lack of food for all this time was starting to affect him. _I can't believe I would be in a situation where I would have to go without food. I guess I have lived a comparatively easy life. Sheesh, what should I do now? I don't even have enough energy to move around anymore._

He sighed again and stared at the ground. _There must be still an hour and a half remaining. I need to think of a solution by then, or I will be stuck around here for who-knows-how-long._

He looked around to see if he could find anything that would help him at least get away from the wall. There didn't seem to be anything around. He tried getting up. Now that he had been awake for some time, his legs weren't numb anymore. He managed to get up halfway before he sat down suddenly; the fixed chains were hampering his movements so much that he couldn't even get up and stand straight.

 _Now what?_ He thought, wondering if he was ever going to get out of this situation. _There must be something around here._

He looked around the room once more. The room had cold steel walls, he noticed. They were so smooth he couldn't even get a grip with his hands. The door was in front of him, a few feet away. The room was a square, around what looked like 6-by-6 feet. The ceiling looked around ten feet high. It was a small room but it had become Ash's prison. The room was completely clear of any dust or any object, almost like it was specially cleaned out for him to be kept as a prisoner. It made him really want to find a way out of the situation he was in.

 _What in the world have I gotten myself into?_ He asked himself.

Finally frustrated, he pulled one final time with all the strength he had. Clank! The chain on his right arm gave way with a clatter.

 _Uh-oh._ He thought, looking at the loose chain. _Now they will know I am awake._

He quietly and tensely waited for someone to open the door. Ten seconds passed… twenty seconds passed… thirty seconds passed… a minute passed… but no one came. Ash let out his breath he didn't know he had been holding. _I must consider myself lucky that no one heard me and that the chain has started to loosen. I will have to work quietly to keep them from knowing._

Suddenly, he heard the door opening. He panicked for a moment before calming down and closing his eyes. He simply let his body fall limply, hoping his posture would convince whoever was coming that he was still out cold.

The door opened fully, revealing one of the grunts. He stared at Ash for a while. "Good. He's still out cold."

The door closed and Ash let out a sigh of relief. He was almost caught. _Luck must be on my side right now, or I would have been dead by now._

Nevertheless, now that he had managed to loosen the chain a bit, he was now hoping his luck wouldn't run out; he wanted to escape from here – but not before stealing some information that could be helpful to them.

 _How could I not use this opportunity?_ He thought to himself, as he kept applying pressure on his chains. _No one knows where this headquarters is. I can still use this opportunity once I am out of this room and try to get some information that could be useful to the police. Just by listening to Giovanni talking some time ago, I know for sure that other than me being the target, they have a goal to achieve that might include the whole world, and we are the only ones who have the chance to stop the approaching problem. I mustn't waste this chance I have got and steal some information._

Suddenly, the chain binding him to the wall gave way and his right arm suddenly shot forward with the momentum. _Good! That takes care of the first chain._

With his right hand free, he tried yanking out the left chain which still held fast to the wall. Some time passed as he kept trying. Soon, he had to give up trying that; his fingers were aching from the continuous strain and he was still tired and hungry – he still hadn't eaten anything.

He leaned with his back on the cold wall and panted with the effort. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. He started checking out all his pockets to see if there was anything that would help him open the lock. To his consternation, he didn't find anything in his pockets. _Those hateful creatures! They completely emptied my pockets. I don't even have the extra spare food I usually keep with me._

He had checked all the pockets in his pants, but hadn't found anything so far. Now, the only pocket left to check was in his jacket. He searched the inside pocket – the only pocket in it – and to his surprise felt something. He tried pulling it out, but couldn't – apparently, whatever it was, it was stuck in the pocket. After some tug-of-war with his jacket, he pulled out the item – a few centimeters long steel wire.

 _This…_ He thought, recalling he had seen its use somewhere. _This might be useful. I recall seeing police and detectives use this kind of wire to open the lock of some door. I wonder if I can do the same thing or not._

With that thought, he pushed one end of the wire into the lock. As soon as it went in, he felt something blocking it. He moved the pin up and down to see where it can continue. He went up and at once the wire started going in again. Trying to recall the next step, he pulled out the wire and bent it at what he thought was roughly the right angle. Repeating the same process again and again whenever he felt something come across the wire, he soon bent the wire into what looked like the notches of a key.

After bending the wire a last time and hoping that it would work, he pushed it in and turned. At once, he heard a series of clinks inside and the lock fell open.

 _Finally!_ Ash thought. _I am at least now free from those chains. Now to find a way out._

He went up to the door and looked out through the small hole in it. All he could see was the empty corridor – not even the guards were there. _Am I really so good at acting that they thought I was really out cold? Or are they just some idiots that were hired to keep an eye on me? I don't understand them at all._

He tried turning the handle and to his surprise, it turned. _Seems like that guy forgot to lock the door after he left. It's good for me anyway; I won't have to worry about making much noise._

He slowly opened the door and looked out. The corridor was completely empty; not a soul was present. He walked out and closed the door behind him. In the lighted corridor, he finally saw just how dirty he was. His clothes were muddy, and his shirt was torn and slightly burnt as well. His hair was even messier and his shoes had holes in them.

 _Did that hyper beam really damage me so much?_ He thought surprised, looking at his condition. _But I must say I am glad for whatever interruption was there that saved me._

Disregarding his condition for the time being, he started walking towards the right. Soon, he came near another corridor branching off the main one. He wondered if he should follow that one or not. Deciding that he would, he quickly started walking, making sure not to make any noise, in case someone was there.

Soon, he came across a crossroad. He was even more confused and wondered which way he should go. _Gosh! I wish I had a map. This place is like a maze!_

He spent what seemed like an hour going along the corridors he came across. He soon became tired of the never-ending maze. Strangely enough, he didn't come across anyone, nor did he come across any rooms or doors. It really was like a maze to him.

 _Where in the world am I?_ He thought tiredly, turning left in the corridor that he had just stumbled upon.

He soon stopped and sat down right there, too tired to continue – the fatigue and not having eaten anything in a long time was affecting him. _I wonder how much time has passed since I last ate. I haven't eaten since we left to check that observatory. I never thought there would be a time when I would be hungry and won't get any food._

He finally lied down and closed his eyes to catch his breath. _I wonder if there's a kitchen in this maze. Of course there isn't! I must be going mad for thinking that._

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. Although he hadn't noticed at first, he noticed now, that there were small white dots equally spaced and painted on the ceiling. _Now that I think about it, those small dots were in all the corridors near the edges. I wonder what they are._

With some rest, he wasn't feeling as tired as he had been a few minutes ago. He got up and decided to follow the white dots. He knew there must be something in that maze which showed everyone the right way out. He didn't know what told him to follow those dots but he did anyway.

A few minutes later, he came across a T-shaped junction and stopped, wondering where he should turn. He looked up to see if the white dots were still there, and to his surprise, he saw that the white dots ended at the corner and there was an arrow pointing to the right.

 _An arrow?_ He thought, turning towards right and running. _This must be how they mark the paths! What a stroke of luck! I hope this path leads me to a kitchen or the way out._

He soon came across another fork, but this time, the right side glowed brighter and the left side glowed darker than the corridor he was in. The arrow pointed towards the darker side. Ash pondered whether he should follow the directions marked or not.

 _I better follow the directions._ He thought, running towards the left. _It would be better. There's no guarantee that I would be able to find these directions again if I got lost._

Soon, he came across a door; the corridor ended right there. There didn't seem to be any light beyond it. He slowly pushed the door open and was greeted by a sight that froze him on the spot. There in the centre of the room, within the fluid-filled cylinder, was a pokémon.

"Mewtwo!"

* * *

 **Okay, so maybe I messed up some parts in the first half of the story. Guess I really need to learn how to write the emotional parts.**

 **But that aside, how was the rest of the chapter? Including Mewtwo wasn't something I thought about at first. I got the idea after _ultimateCCC_ answered the questions, which I had asked in chapter 12, in his review. So, Thank you very much, ultimateCCC for giving me the idea.**

 **Thanks all the readers for your support so far! It motivates me to keep on writing.**

 **Have a nice day!**

 **P.S. I am going to change my update schedule from weekly to fortnightly. Aside from the college work, I also want to start working on 'The Future Masters'. All of this combined with my assignments is becoming a burden for me to be able to update weekly. Hope you don't mind the change in the schedule.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Welcome back everyone! With the first of the many fortnightly updates to follow, let's start with this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 18

"Are you guys done, Clemont, James?" Brock asked.

"Almost," Clemont answered.

He and James had been trying to hack into the Team Rocket database, and they had been able to hack quite a lot of passwords. They were already searching the database for any suspicious information regarding their plan.

"There doesn't seem to be any information regarding their so-called plan." James said, looking up from the screen.

"There should be." Officer Jenny said. She was there to let the trainers help. After their friend's 'death', they were even more determined to take down Team Rocket – none of them knew he was still alive and trying to get out of the Rocket HQ.

"We are trying to find that." Clemont said nodding.

"Until then, we'll go check their headquarters." The officer said, much to the others' surprise.

"You know where it is?" Misty asked, surprised.

Officer Jenny shook her head. "I don't, but whatever we have collected so far about them, points out the fact that it is somewhere near the center of the Viridian Forest."

"That doesn't make it easy." Misty replied, sighing.

"We won't know until we go and check there." Officer Jenny said plainly, as she walked out of the door. "Any three of you can come along with me."

"Me!" Brock, Serena and Gary said in unison. Officer Jenny nodded and beckoned them over.

"What are you going to do, the rest of you?" The officer asked, as the three trainers walked over to her.

"What is there to do?" Max asked in a small voice. Apparently, he was still shaken up. His question depressed the mood at once. They shook their head to clear their mind of the miserable thoughts.

May put a hand on her brother's shoulder and gave a tight squeeze. It helped the boy somewhat as he gave a small smile back. May did the same thing to Bonnie who still was in the same mood. The girl gave a watery smile back as well.

Officer Jenny, seemingly affected by the mood, turned away from them. "Let's go."

A couple of hours later, the group of four was walking towards the center of the forest. The silence between them wasn't tense or suffocating, but it still felt awkward. They walked quietly and without saying a word – their mind was still trying to digest the fact that their friend was no more; the nagging feeling wouldn't leave them. Each of them was lost in their own thoughts, but they had one thought in common – that Team Rocket was going down.

"We are here." Brock called as they stopped. "This is the exact center of the forest."

They looked around and weren't surprised to see themselves completely surrounded by trees.

"There doesn't seem to be anything around here." Serena said, walking a few steps away from the group.

They separated a few steps to see if they could see anything that would point towards the headquarters – not that they were too optimistic about it; there was no way they would do something as foolish as having directions marked so openly.

"How in the world can they hide the headqua…?" Serena started, but finished with a scream.

Hearing her scream, they ran towards where they had heard her, but there was nothing there. Only trees and bushes greeted them.

"What just happened?" Gary asked, wide-eyed.

They were standing near a tree where all three of them thought Serena had screamed. They scoured the area around but there was no sign of the lost performer.

"Where did she go?" Brock asked, perplexed.

"Wherever she is, I hope she is all right." Officer Jenny said apprehensively.

* * *

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH…‼‼" Serena screamed as she slid down the slide she had stumbled upon.

A minute or so passed before the slide ended. Serena was thrown on her face with the momentum she had gained from sliding down. It took her a moment to figure out that she was safe. She sighed in relief and got up. Dusting herself off, she looked around.

She was in a dimly lit corridor. The slide she had come down from was at the end of the passage. She looked towards the other side but couldn't see the end of the corridor.

 _What is this place?_ She thought to herself as she started walking down the passage. _And what is this corridor doing down here? What is going on down here? Does anyone know about this?_

She kept on looking around, but there wasn't anything there; the whole corridor looked absolutely empty. _How can this be possible? Why would they construct an empty corridor? And more importantly, who did this?_

Soon, she reached an intersection. Much like Ash, she was confused and started choosing the pats randomly. Half an hour passed before she stopped. _This is a maze. Why in the world did they make a maze underground? Whoever made this must have been crazy. I don't even see the point of it._

She turned another corner and froze. She hadn't expected to see what she did. It was Ash's hat. It was lying right there, in front of her. It was muddy and even torn at some places, but it was his hat. She couldn't believe it.

 _Does this mean Ash is still alive?_ She thought, gently picking up the dirty hat. _Does this mean he was caught?_

Her hope grew as she stared at the hat. _There's no doubt about it. This is Ash's. He must still be alive somewhere in this maze if this hat is here._

The hope gave her the energy as she started running to try and find a way out of this maze and tell the good news to her friends, as well as looking for Ash in the meantime. _I just know it! I feel it in my heart that he's still alive. I wonder what happened though. If he's still alive, how did he escape that hyper beam? Guess, I will have to find the answer for myself._

With the nagging, sad, depressing feeling leaving her mind, she picked up the pace and ran as fast as she could to find a way out of this maze and tell everyone the good news.

* * *

"Mewtwo?"

Ash was shocked at seeing the psychic-type legendary pokémon there, captive. _How did Team Rocket get their hands on Mewtwo? Just what does Team Rocket want?_

He looked around and saw that the room was empty. There wasn't anyone present. The little light that glowed in the room was coming from inside the cylinder, as if the strange fluid that surrounded Mewtwo was glowing.

Ash opened the door fully and tiptoed inside the room. Closing the door behind him, he approached the captive pokémon cautiously. He didn't know if Mewtwo had started holding a grudge against humans again or not; he didn't want to take the risk.

"Mewtwo," Ash whispered to see if the pokémon was listening. Mewtwo didn't respond.

"Mewtwo," Ash whispered, louder than earlier. Mewtwo still didn't respond.

 _What's going on here?_ He thought, looking around in the dimly-lit room.

The room looked technologically advanced. There were many computers which seemed to monitor something. The strange glass cylinder in which Mewtwo was held captive was also surrounded by computers on all sides. The room altogether looked like it was made by people from the future.

Ash lightly tapped the glass. The glass didn't even make any sound, making him wonder about what it was made of. He looked around again. There didn't seem to be any exit other than the door he had come from.

 _I wonder if Mewtwo has got something do with this plan of theirs._ He thought, leaving the room quietly. _Even if he does have something to do with this, I wonder how they even manage to find him, let alone catch him and hold him here. There are so many things unanswered here. We still need to find many things before we can solve this case._

He quickly ran along the corridor he had just arrived from. There wasn't any branch off along it as far as he remembered, and if this was the only way to go to that room, he wanted to leave the passageway, lest he would get caught.

He soon reached the junction where he had turned left and stopped, tired. He flopped down right there and started panting heavily; the dinner, breakfast, he missed was now really starting to affect him. He was already on the edge but now he felt like he wouldn't be able to continue anymore.

A few minutes passed before he managed to catch his breath. He got up as his stomach growled. He rubbed his hands on his stomach. _Gosh, I must really look for food first! If I don't eat something soon, I will pass out right here. I can't really afford that. As much as I want to help Mewtwo, I can't right now. I won't be able to help anyone if I don't care about myself first._

He thought for a second, and then ran in the opposite direction – the brightly-lit corridor. As he ran, he looked up to see if the white dots were still there or not. They were. Reassured, he kept on running.

Five minutes later, he stood in front of a door. He gulped and slowly turned the door handle; for some reason, this was the only door that was a normal one compared to others that he had come across so far. He slowly pushed it open and peered inside.

 _Finally!_ He thought, relieved. _I was trying to find you since such a long time, Kitchen!_

He opened and ran towards the refrigerator on the right side of the room. Half an hour later, he was patting his stomach in satisfaction. _Thanks for the food! I can't believe they had kept such tasty food in this maze._

He finally got up, thankful for the food. _Now, to go and check on Mewtwo._

Fifteen minutes later, he was back outside the room where Mewtwo was. Now that his stomach was full, he felt at ease. He slowly pushed open the door an inch and gazed inside.

The room that had been empty half an hour ago was now completely filled with scientists. Each one of them was sitting at a particular terminal on the computer screens. They seemed to be working on something.

"Hey, who's that?" One of them suddenly asked, getting everyone's attention.

"What are you talking about?" Another asked.

"Someone has managed to infiltrate here."

"You have got to be kidding me. No one knows about this underground area."

"Well, someone does know, and _she_ is running towards the main room right now."

 _She?_ Ash thought. _This whole area is underground? And who in the world is the girl who managed to break in here?_

"Everyone, have a good look at this intruder and as soon as you see her, finish her off."

As the scientist gave the order, the blank, dark wall of the room was lighted up with a hologram of the female intruder. Ash could only stare in shock.

 _S-Serena?!_

* * *

"What in the world happened?" Brock asked for the umpteenth time. "This is just a waste of time. How in the world are we going to find out where she disappeared?"

Gary and Officer Jenny sighed. Somehow, what Brock said seemed to make sense to them. In a fit of anger, Gary punched the tree where Serena disappeared, hard. The hollow sound that was heard afterwards widened their eyes. To make sure that they had heard correctly, Gary lightly tapped the tree trunk where he had punched; they heard a hollow sound.

"Do you think what I think it is?" Brock asked. The other two nodded.

On a hunch, Gary stood in front of the part where they had heard the hollow sound. At once, the hollow part of the trunk bent backwards, revealing a slide going down. The others exchanged glances. They all had the same thought – this must be where Serena had disappeared.

They stared at each other for a while.

"So what are we going to do?" Gary asked.

"I think one of us must go down to check what's going on." Brock said.

"Not before knowing what's down there." Officer Jenny interjected.

"How are we going to figure that out? By sending a pokémon down there?" Gary asked, raising an eyebrow.

Officer Jenny nodded as she pulled out a pokéball. "Come on out, Pidgey."

The flying-type appeared in front of them. Brock thought it unusual that the officer had such a pokémon, other than Growlithe, but he didn't say anything.

The officer, meanwhile, pulled out a small camera – most likely, a spy camera – and attached it to the bird's head. It seemed like the flying-type knew what it was supposed to do, for as soon as the camera was secured, it quickly flew inside the hollow inside the tree trunk.

Half an hour passed before the three heard the Pidgey flying back up. As soon as the Pidgey came back, Officer Jenny quickly got the camera and nodded at the two – they were going to head back home to study the tape. Unfortunately, no one knew this was going to happen, or either Officer Jenny or Gary would have brought a laptop with them. Right now, they could only hope that Serena would be fine down underground.

* * *

 _Just what's up with this maze of tunnels?_ Serena thought to herself, frustrated. She had been running for what felt like an eternity, but was only half an hour. _Whatever made them build such a confusing network of tunnels?_

She was already feeling tired; no matter what she tried, she knew she was still lost. _How in the world am I supposed to get out of here? It feels like I am just going around in circles._

She paused to take a breath. _What should I do?_

She took a deep breath and calmed down, sufficiently enough to be able to think with a cool head. She looked around, knowing there must be some way that others, using these tunnels, used to go the right way. She also knew that most of the tunnels were used quite a lot since the floor wasn't covered with dirt in them.

"Braixen, come on out." Serena called her fire-type partner.

Braixen appeared in front of her and waited for her orders. Serena bent down slightly to the pokémon's eye-level and said, "I need a little help. Do you mind lighting the area around us, so I can see more clearly?"

"Braixen!"

Braixen followed her trainer's command and lighted the twig in her hand. The surrounding area lit up brightly enough to let Serena see clearly. She kept on looking around herself to see if she could find something that told them the right way. One minute passed… two minutes passed… five minutes passed… ten minutes passed… but she didn't give up – the hope that Ash was alive was enough to keep her going indefinitely.

Finally, after fifteen minutes, she saw what she was trying to find – white colored dots near the edge on the ceiling. She followed the small line of the dots and wasn't surprised to see them continuing towards both sides of the corridor.

 _Guess I finally found what I wanted._ She thought. Hopefully, with a stroke of luck, she might just choose the right way that would either take her out, or take her to Ash. Much like Ash, she started following the dots and soon, reached a junction.

 _Where should I go?_ She asked herself. She looked up at the ceiling and saw that there were a couple of arrows – one, that pointed in the direction she had just come from, and other, that pointed towards the left. _Should I follow the arrow and go to the left? Or should I go to the right to see what is there?_

Deciding to trust her instinct, she turned and started walking down the right corridor. _I hope this one would take me to the right place._

Ten minutes later, she was still walking down the never-ending passage, with Braixen lighting the way for them. _Just how long is this corridor? It's longer than any I have come across so far. I wonder if this is an entrance to the underground maze._

Another ten minutes passed before she could see light. Strangely though, the light wasn't at the end of the corridor like she had expected. It looked like it was at the side of the passage, inserted inside the wall. She exchanged glances with Braixen, and then broke out into a run. In a matter of seconds, she could see the source of the light – it was really placed into the wall, much to her surprise. She finally got there in front of the light and was greeted by a reassuring sight.

 _A map!_ She thought. _Just what I needed! This will show where I am and I will be able to find a way out of here._

She searched the map and soon found the red light that marked the position where she was – it was a digital map that could be updated easily if anything changed in the whole labyrinth of tunnels; a very, very useful thing. It looked much like the maps that Serena could see on her guidebook.

Relief washed through her as she saw that she was around a few hundred meters away from the exit. But the problem was that the exit wasn't outside – it took her into the Rocket Headquarters.

 _What do I do now?_ She thought, as she looked over the rest of the places that the map showed. _There doesn't seem another exit in this maze, and I might get lost too. And this exit goes to the Team Rocket Headquarters. There is no guarantee Ash would be there if I decide to go to the HQ. For all I know, Ash could be wandering endlessly in this maze of tunnels._

The last thought sent shivers down her spine. _I hope he is all right._

She once again looked over the map, making sure she didn't miss another exit that might exist. While going over the map, she saw something that sent shivers down her spine, once again.

 _They keep prisoners here?_ She thought, eyeing the word 'jail' that she had seen. _Or is it just those who dare to go against them?_

She followed the path to the jail that the map showed. Halfway through the marked path, the continuous line, that denoted the passage, suddenly converted into dotted right until the word 'jail'.

 _Does it mean that the path is hidden?_ She thought to herself, as she revised the path to the jail. _If that's the case, I wonder if I should really go and check it out._

Finally deciding to go, she quickly revised the path one last time, before leaving in the direction. _I hope I find you, Ash._

* * *

 _What should I do?_ Ash asked himself, as he started running down random corridors. _I don't have a pokémon with me. There's no way I would get back the stolen ones without having at least one pokémon with me. And Serena's inside this maze. How did she arrive here? What was she thinking to try to infiltrate here?_

He kept on running to see if he could find a way out. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he stopped, tired. _There must be a map here that must show the right way out. But where would it be?_

He ran down another corridor and a few minutes later, stopped at a dead end.

 _Just how many dead ends are there in this maze?_ He thought to himself; he had already come across five others while running randomly.

He was panting hard by that time. He looked up towards the ceiling to see if there were any white dots. To his surprise, the white dots ended right there and instead of the usual white colored arrow, there was a red colored one that pointed at the corner of the wall in front of him.

 _A red-colored arrow?_ He thought, straightening up. _I wonder what it points at._

Deciding to follow his instinct, he put a finger on the vertical edge that the arrow pointed to and started making his way up from the bottom. He came across a couple of bumps on the way, but dismissed them as a fault in the construction. He reached up until the top but didn't feel anything else. It seemed like he really was in a dilemma. Following the dots all the time meant he was vulnerable to an attack from his enemies.

 _I wonder if those bumps that I felt are some secret buttons._ He thought, as he started running his finger along the edge yet again. _There usually are such things in a secret organization to hide secret passages. At least, that is what I have usually hear when the police is dealing with an enemy as large as Team Rocket. How I wish I had read one of those detective stories! They would have been a tremendous help right now._

He felt a bump again and stopped right there. He tried pushing it but couldn't – the bump was too small for his bulky finger to be able to push easily. Now that he thought about it, the walls he had seen so far were perfectly smooth and free from dust. As far as he could see, even the edges were sharp. So a bump like this in here at what seemed like exactly a third of the total height of the passage didn't feel right.

He kept the position marked with his finger and with his other free hand, pulled out the small piece of wire that he had used to open the chains.

 _I am glad I kept this piece of wire with me._ He thought, as he aligned it in front of the bump. _I can't believe I would have ever found a use here of all places._

The wire did the job and much to his surprise, the wall in front of him slid noiselessly, revealing the corridor beyond it. He could only stare in surprise.

 _I wonder if the rest of the dead ends I came across had this door._ He thought, slowly walking past the door that had been blocking his way a few minutes ago.

Suddenly, the dimly-lighted corridor that he had just stepped in started glowed brightly. He had to cover his eyes for a second to let them adjust to the sudden change in the lighting. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he turned to see the light source, and was greeted by a reassuring sight.

 _A map!_ He thought, walking up to the digital map that had suddenly appeared in the wall beside him. _Looks like fate decided to come at my side finally!_

He didn't even bother to wonder how or why the map appeared unexpectedly; he was just so relieved that he could finally find a way out of this maze.

Much like Serena, he easily located the red dot that marked his current position and quickly marked the way to the exit in his mind. When he decided he had remembered each detail of the path he was going to follow, he gazed at where the exit went to. At once, his expression darkened.

 _I should have known this won't be easy._ He thought as he started running down the marked way. _I will have to find a way to get out of the main HQ once I reach the exit of this maze._

He kept on running, unaware of the fact that the route he had chosen met with Serena's selected route halfway.

* * *

"So did you manage to hack in there?" Trip asked impatiently. He hated the fact that he couldn't be of any help.

"Just some more time," Clemont replied. "I think there is only one password that's left to crack. After that, we will be able to check their files."

"And maybe even the security cameras," James added, as the screen showed the word 'SUCCESS' written in all capitals. "Look here, there's a folder containing all the recent things that have been taped so far in the whole HQ. There's even a connection to see all the places in the whole HQ live."

"That's great!" Cilan said.

"But wouldn't they find out about us hacking into their database?" Clemont asked uncertainly.

"I had already changed the identity of this computer. Hopefully, they won't find about us." James replied, as he started opening various folders.

The door to their room suddenly opened and Officer Jenny, along with Gary and Brock, walked in.

"Hey guys," Max asked. "Where's Serena?"

"Inside the HQ, I guess," Gary replied with conviction.

Everyone looked at him shocked.

"What did you just say?" May asked doubtfully, not being able to believe what she had just heard.

"She is inside the Team Rocket Headquarters." Gary said, loudly and clearly.

There was silence as the others gaped at him.

"And you just let her go?" Dawn asked.

"Listen to the whole account, will you?" Brock said.

Officer Jenny went up to the other computer that Professor Oak had, as Brock and Gary started explaining what had transpired. Clemont and James left their terminal to see what Officer Jenny had brought.

The tape started with pitch black screen. After a minute, a little light could be seen approaching them. The light came from a corridor, the three noticed. Then, the camera picked up speed and soon, they saw another corridor branching off the main one. The camera turned into the branch and after another few minutes, it came across a junction.

After that, the camera turned back and returned the way it had passed through. The recording ended with Officer Jenny detaching the camera from its holder – a Pidgey.

"This isn't good." The officer muttered, disconnecting the camera.

"It looks like a maze." Bonnie stated. "And Serena ran in there?"

"She must have been crazy." Misty said; apparently, Brock and Gary had already finished filling them in on the current situation. "Why is she taking such a huge risk?"

"It might seem a foolish decision," Brock started, "but it could be of a lot of help to us. All we will have to do is find her and she will tell us what she had found."

"Provided Team Rocket doesn't find her first," Clemont added. "She is inside the headquarters after all."

"She isn't alone. She has her Braixen and Pancham with her." Gary said. "With some luck, she won't come across any of them."

"How can you be so sure?" Delia asked skeptically. The others had the same expressions on their faces.

"Didn't you notice?" He asked.

"What?"

Gary sighed. "Didn't you notice in the tape? All the corridors that the Pidgey flew in were empty."

"That isn't enough proof." Clemont pointed out. "For all we know, the passages could be unused for a long time."

"No," Gary replied. "If you notice closely, the floor isn't covered with dust at all. In fact, it looks so clean that anyone could slip on it."

"Huh?" Taking note of his statement, Officer Jenny replayed the tape. What Gary had told was accurate; there wasn't even a speck of dust on the floor. It really looked clean enough for anyone to slip on it.

"You have got a point." Clemont finally conceded. "It looks like the floor is specially kept clean. Since the passages were empty, it also means there really must not be many visitors in that part of the maze, which also explains their need to keep it clean."

"But still," James said. "That doesn't mean she's safe. We don't even know what is inside there. For all we know, while we consider what to do here, she could be in some real danger."

His statement scared them. They reluctantly had to admit to themselves that he had a point as well. Instead of waiting here, they should go and search the corridors. They exchanged glances – everyone had the same thought going through their mind.

"So, who will go?" Officer Jenny asked.

At once, all the hands went up, even Delia, Professor Oak and Mr. Mime as well. The officer was slightly surprised at the immediate response. Apparently, Serena also meant quite a lot to them as a friend.

"Well," Officer Jenny started, after thinking for a bit. "Truthfully, I don't know which one of you is strong enough to take care of themselves down there from whatever danger there is. I will leave it up to you to decide who will go."

"But before that," Clemont intercepted, before anyone could start a debate, "check this out."

He went up to James, who had resumed their work, as the others followed and surrounded them. The computer screen that they were staring at was divided into four parts, with each part showing what seemed like a part of the maze.

"This is the live feed from four of the many security cameras inside the maze." James stated, as he tapped a key and changed the view in all of them. "It seems like they had kept a link to directly connect to the cameras from any computer should they know the password. We can easily check out the whole place from right here."

"That's great. It will be really helpful." Officer Jenny said, as James kept on changing the scene in the four parts after every few seconds.

"The only problem is, since this is a top secret link for them, they have shut down the microphones in the cameras." Clemont said. "So basically, we can see everything but won't be able to eavesdrop on anyone."

"Well, that's fine." Gary said. "At least, we will be able to keep an eye on them from right here."

"My thoughts exactly," Officer Jenny stated. "We'll first see if we can find Serena or Giovanni through here. I doubt they would have kept any place devoid of these cameras."

James quickly started changing the views of the cameras to see if they could see anything. Fifteen minutes passed just like that.

"Just how many cameras are there?" Bonnie finally asked, upset. _Just what is Team Rocket up to?_

"Goes to show how large the base is." Sadie stated.

"Yeah," Cilan nodded. "But there is nothing we can do about this."

Another five minutes passed. Everyone was now starting to get irritated about the number of cameras they had already switched through.

Finally, James stopped at a camera where he saw something. The sight they saw froze them. Their eyes widened and their jaws dropped. Only one word left their mouth as they saw the running figure.

"Ash!"

* * *

Outside the room where Ash was imprisoned, footsteps sounded as two grunts came walking down the passage.

"Two hours have almost passed." One of them said. "That kid must have regained consciousness by now."

"Yeah, after that, they will test that machine on him." The other replied. "But what exactly does it do?"

"I don't know the exact details, but it is some kind of memory device. It can scan the memories in your brain to find the relevant ones that we want."

The other grunt whistled in admiration. "But has it been tested?"

"Nope; not that it matters. If it works, it would simply speed up our plan. If it doesn't and explodes, well, you know what happens."

"Death," The grunt said sinisterly. The two burst out laughing – it was an evil laugh rather than the one when you are having fun.

The two turned another corner, as the first grunt said, "So, who gets to open the door first?"

"You do it. It isn't like the kid is going to try anything. He must already know by now that he can't do anything against us."

The grunt shrugged and pulled out the key. He looked up at the door Ash was kept in and stopped at once.

"What…" he started, before running all the way up to the door.

"What's wrong?" The second one said, bewildered at his companion's peculiar behavior.

"That kid," the grunt replied, as he came out of the door with a furious expression.

"That brat is gone!"

* * *

 **And that ends the 18th chapter in this story.**

 **I suppose some of you might be curious about 'The Future Masters'. So, here's a small excerpt from its first chapter for you to read:**

 _ **"So, are you excited?" Dawn asked, smiling at the blonde-haired girl sitting beside her.**_

 _ **"Of course I am!" The girl exclaimed happily. "This will be my own journey and I mean to make the most of it. Isn't that right, Dedenne?"**_

 _ **The orange-furred mouse on her head squeaked its answer. "Dedenne!"**_

 _ **"You are acting as if you never went on a journey and this is actually your first. You must have gone mad, Bonnie." The green-haired boy beside her said, turning towards her.**_

 _ **"Well, to be precise, this is my second journey." Bonnie replied. "But this will be my first journey without having an older brother nagging me about everything."**_

 _ **"I know that feeling." The boy replied knowingly. "I have had that experience as much as you."**_

 _ **"That's so mean, Max, Bonnie." Dawn scolded them lightly. "They only want the best for you."**_

 _ **"I know that," Max said, rolling his eyes. "But there is no need to keep an eye on every action we do."**_

 _ **"Well, that's because you guys are just so restless." Dawn said. "Just forget about you for a second and you would be neck-deep in some problem."**_

 _ **The two kids beside her only laughed.**_

 _ **The three were on the plane headed to the Sinnoh region – Dawn's native region. The two kids – Max and Bonnie – wanted to travel to a region they hadn't gone to and their friends had recommended Sinnoh. So, now they were on their way to start a new journey.**_

 **So, how was the small passage? By the time I am be able to finish this story, I should have already written five or six chapters for 'The Future Masters' (hopefully). Well, that's my goal.**

 **That aside, don't forget to review this chapter!**

 **Another thing that I am pretty sure you have heard about is the announcement of the 7th generation of Pokémon games - Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. And this also signifies the inevitable end of the XY series and maybe even Amourshipping, that is, if they don't continue with Serena. Well, nothing much can be said until they release the games.**

 **ameyab97 signing out! See you guys, later!**


	19. Chapter 19

**I don't think you need an explanation for an early update, for it is just a good thing for you, but I guess I should explain something. So, this chapter turned out be shorter than I originally thought, and I just finished it, so I though why not update. There's no reason to stick to an update schedule all the time - that is, there should be some exceptions XD.**

 **The thing is I want to finish this as soon as possible, so I can start updating 'The Future Masters'. I am really excited to start it; maybe even more than you want to read it. But with my internals and submissions starting soon, I can't really focus on writing both. That has made me decide that I should just finish this first, before starting on the next one.**

 **So, you can expect either weekly or fortnightly updates, although I will try to stick to the fortnightly schedule. I will probably update as soon as I manage to finish a chapter; it should be right around this time.**

 **So now, without further delay, let's start with the next chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 19

 _And now to turn right in this corridor._ Ash thought, turning in the branch he had come across. He had been running for quite some time and he was just halfway through the path he was following – the path to the exit and hopefully, freedom from his captivity.

Somehow, his usually forgetful brain had managed to memorize the whole route out of the maze. It seemed like luck wanted to play games with him, with how everything had been going on with him.

Suddenly, everything around him started glowing red, including the lights that lit the whole maze. Strangely, he didn't hear any siren or alarm going off, but he could care less about it; his main priority was getting out of here.

 _I hope I don't come across any one here, after all this time._ He thought, turning round another corner. _It's too late already with having to find the right way in this maze. I must say I am lucky I managed to find a map, or who knows how long I would have had to wander here._

He turned left at another corner and stopped at once. He hurriedly retraced his steps back to the corner and panted. He had just seen a pair of grunts ahead of him, and so had retraced his steps as quickly as he could, hoping they wouldn't turn around. With fate supporting him, the two grunts hadn't seen him, but there was no guarantee that they wouldn't come back.

After catching his breath, he slowly peeped around the corner. He could still see the grunts, albeit farther ahead. He wondered if he had taken a wrong turn somewhere, because as far as he could see, there weren't any branch off after where he was, and according to his memory, he needed to turn another left soon.

 _What should I do?_ He thought. _If I go back to check the map, it will take a very long time for me to come back here. If I go ahead and I am lost, I might end up in their hideout. I am not even sure if I am lost or not. There is nothing here that points me the right way._

He looked at the ceiling. _Just like I thought, the white dots aren't there anymore. What should I assume now? Does their absence mean I am quite near the exit or does it mean that I am not on the path I should have been on?_

He once again peered. The passage was now empty. The grunts, who had been there a few minutes ago, weren't there. Ash felt surprised. Now, with no one to block his view of the straight passage, he could see that there weren't any forks as far as the passage went. It looked like a never ending corridor that went up to infinity.

 _I wonder if there are hidden passageways here._ He thought as he started walking down the corridor. _If so, there must be hidden switches here._

He ran as noiselessly as possible to the point where he had seen the grunts walking. He stopped and looked around. Due to the red tinge that formed because of the lights at the moment, it was somewhat difficult to see. That combined with the underground darkness in the corridor didn't really help. Ash wondered what he should do.

 _If the grunts disappeared around here, then there must be a button or some kind of mechanism that opened the door for them._ He thought, slowly running his eyes at the walls around him. _Then again, the hidden door could be one of the 'dead ends' that I came across right after escaping from that room._

Deciding to not waste any more time, he started running again to see if there was a left anywhere near there. He ran for quite some time but strangely, he didn't come across any door – or anyone.

 _What's going on here?_ He thought, as he started to retrace his steps. _I wonder if there is a left turn where those grunts disappeared._

He soon reached where he had been standing some time ago. From there, he could just see the passage turning right.

 _This must be where they disappeared._ He thought. Since he needed to go left – or rather right, since he had retraced his steps – he went to the right wall and started checking the small gaps between the wall panels with the same wire that had been helping him so far.

 _I can't believe this small piece of wire has been this useful to me._ He thought, as he ran the wire through one of the cracks in the wall. _If they hadn't forgotten this, I might still have been in that room for who knows how long._

He didn't feel any bumps or anything that told him that it could be a switch; all the cracks felt completely smooth.

 _I wonder if there is a door in the first place. Or I might just be wasting my time here._ He thought, moving his hand towards the small gap between the ceiling and wall.

As soon as his hand moved in the corner, the wire suddenly went a little inside a crack, taking Ash by surprise. Had it not been for the twists and turns in it thanks to Ash's try of opening his chains, the wire could have completely gone in. Wondering if he had come across a button, Ash straightened the wire as much as he could and then, slowly pushed it in the crack.

The wire slowly went in until Ash felt something blocking its way. He applied some pressure and heard a click. The wall panel slid open noiselessly, revealing another hidden passage. Ash took a step in. As soon as he stood just inside the door, he was blinded by a light again. After letting his eyes adjust, he turned to the source, only to see the same reassuring sight again – a map.

He noted his position and to his relief, saw that he was on the right path. There were still some more twists and turns before he could reach the exit, but there didn't seem to be any other obstacle in his path.

 _Now that I think about it,_ He thought, looking beside him. _The maps I came across, appeared when I stood just inside the junction. I wonder if there's a sensor near every intersection that triggers a mechanism to show the map._

He was right, for he could easily see the red lasers that were projected on his body – probably, the trigger mechanism. The passage that was just opened was dark, making it really easy for him to pinpoint the dim lasers on his body. For some reason, the lights that should have turned red, since the 'alarm' had been sounded off, didn't work inside the hidden passage. Even the white light that usually lit all the corridors had been turned off. It seemed like the passage was supposed to be hidden.

Ash stared at the dark passage and wondered if he should continue. His answer was decided when the door that was just open, closed suddenly, leaving him in complete darkness, the map having disappeared already.

 _Guess I don't have a choice._ Ash thought, as he started walking, albeit slowly. _But now, I have to be careful not to bump in someone, or I might just end up starting a commotion in here. And I certainly don't want to attract any more attention than I already have._

He went slightly left until he felt the wall and kept on walking with the wall as his guide. He didn't know how long he had spent time in that darkness, when he finally managed to see some kind of light in front of him. He started running, not bothering to hide the sound his shoes made; he just wanted to get out of the darkness that seemed to strangle him.

The light came closer and closer, making him run faster and faster. Finally, he reached the source of the light and stopped, panting from the long trip that he had been on since waking up. He looked around and was relieved.

The light source was nothing but a room – probably one of the grunts' rooms. It was just a small bedroom with a usual bed, a dresser with a mirror and some clothes, with Team Rocket uniform laid out on top. There were a couple of doors attached to the room.

 _One of them must go the bathroom_. Ash thought, entering the room. _The other could be a kitchen or a way out on the other side._

There was even a window right above the bed and the light came from it. Ash went up to the window and looked outside. It was daytime and outside the window, he saw the forest – the Viridian Forest. He felt that it was the most beautiful sight that he had ever seen in his life. Never had he thought once that he would feel this relieved on seeing a normal forest.

He was about to yell in satisfaction and relief, when he heard footsteps coming his way. For some reason, he didn't feel panicky at all. Instead, with a cool mind, he looked around and decided to hide under the bed.

He slipped under and not a moment too soon, for two grunts came inside – the same ones that he had seen. They were talking about something that caught his interest.

"I wonder what that Eevee was doing there. And why would it bother to save that brat?" One of them said.

"Who knows?" The other replied. "But, that Eevee sure evolved into a Sylveon. Isn't that amazing in itself?"

"I guess. But that doesn't explain the fact why it would bother saving someone it didn't know."

"Or maybe our assumption is wrong. Maybe, that Eevee did know Ketchum. For all we know, it could belong to him."

"I can't believe that. As far as I have seen, he doesn't own one. Those two recruits, what was their name…"

"Jake and Sadie."

"Yeah, those two. From what they sent us, the only Eevees in the whole group of trainers belong to that performer girl and that inventor gym leader's sister. And that sister of his has a newborn Eevee."

"Then that would mean that the only Eevee that could have been interrupting then, would be the performer's one. Her name is Serena, I think, right?"

"Yeah. But if it was her Eevee, then doesn't she care about it? I mean it could have died."

"I don't see why you would even bother thinking about that. Our only job is to find the Ketchum and that Eevee – or Sylveon, as I should say now."

"Guess you are right. I was just trying to think about that pokémon from their perspective."

"Don't bother. We will first take care of Ketchum. If he doesn't cooperate, we are supposed to finish him off. After that, that Eevee would be a piece of cake."

"And don't forget we have still got to find that performer as well. I heard from the others that she has somehow managed to infiltrate here and is, right now, roaming somewhere in the maze."

"Right."

There was a pause as the two seemed to be working on something, evident from the slight noises that followed their conversation.

"By the way," the first one started, "why do you think the boss even bothers praising those two?"

"Jake and Sadie, huh?" the other replied, getting up. "I don't know and I don't care. And I can't believe those two took the bait so easily. I bet boss just wants to use their intelligence and talent for his own advantage and then, he would probably finish them off as well, along with Ketchum."

"You are right. If I were at his place, I would have done the same."

A snicker was heard as the two grunts left the room, unaware of the fact that the 'Ketchum' had just eavesdropped on their whole conversation.

Ash couldn't believe what he had just heard and it made his blood boil. _An Eevee being the interruption that saved me? That same Eevee evolving into a Sylveon? The possibility that the Eevee could be Serena's? Jake and Sadie, a part of Team Rocket? And the chance that they would be just used and probably killed after that? Just what has been going on while I was travelling? I can't believe just how cold-blooded Team Rocket has become. Even the three idiots that used to follow me weren't that cruel._

After making sure that there really wasn't anyone there, he slipped out from under the bed and got up. His movements were stiff, though, from hearing what he had just heard. His anger and hatred towards the Team Rocket knew no bounds now. He just wanted to finish them off – not kill them, but making sure that Giovanni never, ever comes out of the prison. He just hated and despised them so much; he just couldn't believe the conversation that he had ended up overhearing. He would probably have been blissfully ignorant, had it not been for his capture.

He punched the window in anger, breaking the glass and opening his way to the outside world. But the thought was furthest from his mind at that moment. He was just thinking of a quick way to stop the crazy boss from doing what he had just heard.

 _But before that, I need to find Serena._ He thought, as he took several deep breaths to calm down his anger. _She must still be somewhere inside the maze._

He looked around in the had managed to calm himself down enough to be able to think clearly about the situation overall. He knew that now he had an escape available; the only other he needed to find was Serena in the maze and that Sylveon who supposedly saved him – _if the fairy-type pokémon is alive_ , he thought grimly.

He went up to the cupboard and opened it, hoping to find something useful. He felt somewhat reassured after seeing the things inside. There was an old backpack, a few old clothes and even a flashlight. He didn't bother to think why a grunt would have such things with him. He just got the three things out and looked over them carefully, wondering how he should use them as his guide – after all, he didn't want to lose his only hope of escape.

He took hold of one of the old shirts and looked at the frayed ends. He pulled on one of the threads and to his surprise and relief, the whole thread started to undo from the shirt. He checked all the clothes, and found that all of them had such frayed ends. He knew what he was going to use them for. He quickly tied all the loose ends of the threads to form a series of shirts, and then, stuffed them inside the old backpack, after tying one of the ends to a leg of the bed.

 _Hopefully, those shirts will let the thread loose from them and it will be able to mark the way I follow._ He thought.

After finishing with that, he checked the flashlight; it still seemed to be working properly. The light wasn't really bright, but it was enough for him to be able to see a few feet. He opened and checked the dresser again to see if there was any extra battery or not. He didn't find any.

After stuffing the flashlight as well, he wondered what he should do with the couple of pants he had found. They weren't as tattered as the shirts he had found, but they were, more or less, in the same condition.

 _I guess I should take them as well._ He thought, taking out the flashlight and stuffing the pants in the already stuffed bag. _They might come in useful._

After barely managing to close the bag, he threw it over his shoulder and walked some distance to see if the thread was unwrapping. It was, much to his relief. Now, he felt he was ready to continue his search for Serena, and hopefully, the Sylveon.

He went back up to the bed and checked the knot that secured the thread – it was his only hope to return here, for, in case, he had to go too far away, there was a chance he might not be able to return to the same room again, especially with the grunts patrolling throughout the maze to catch him and Serena.

Getting up, he looked at the room for supposedly the last time and left.

* * *

"Hey guys, did you forget about Serena?" Meowth asked, dampening the mood from joyful to somber.

They had been celebrating after seeing Ash alive and well, and running inside the base. They couldn't believe he was still alive, even after the hyper beam that had supposedly killed him. Their happiness knew no bounds, leading them to forget about everything. It was only when Meowth asked the question that they realized only a part of their problem was solved; they still needed to find Serena and her lost Eevee, and take care of Team Rocket as well.

The mood sobered as James started switching the cameras again to try and find Serena. As far as her Eevee was concerned, that problem needed to be tackled separately, and was possible only after they find the owner. The mood, though sobered, wasn't as tense anymore; it was as if seeing Ash alive had lessened their tension by a whole lot.

They kept on switching cameras but didn't see anything else. While all of them were busy trying to search for Serena, Bonnie, happy to see Ash alive, had gone to tell all their pokémon the good news. She soon came back and was surprised to see the mood serious.

She went up to her brother and pulled his sleeve, attracting his attention. "Is something wrong?"

"Well, not really," Clemont answered slowly. "We just haven't seen Serena in any of these cameras."

Seeing the upset expression that Bonnie gave, he hastily continued, "There is no need to worry, though. Serena has her pokémon with her, so she will be safe. The only problem is Ash; he didn't seem to have any pokémon on him."

Hearing his statement, the atmosphere seemed to tense up – apparently, no one had bothered checking any minute details after seeing Ash, so Clemont's statement made them wonder if the captured trainer would be all right.

"Clemont," Officer Jenny started. "What you just said – is that true?"

"Well, I don't really know." Clemont admitted. "It's just that I didn't notice Pikachu with him. And you know how those two are inseparable."

"Guess you are right." Brock agreed reluctantly. Even he hadn't noticed Pikachu with his best friend.

"So now, we have got a new question to find an answer for." Officer Jenny stated.

"What exactly happened in that clearing during that explosion?" Cilan stated the question.

The others ran the gears of their brains but couldn't come up with anything.

"Well, we could figure out something with a theory," James started. "But there would be way too many 'what if's."

The others nodded; they had had the same thought.

"The only persons who would know anything about that are Serena, if she has found Ash by now, or Ash himself." Misty said.

"Yeah," Iris said. "But we won't know anything until one of them manages to escape."

They sighed, knowing it was going to be a difficult task.

"Well, that's it." James said, switching off the camera screen. "Those were all the cameras linked here."

"So, what now?" May and Max asked together.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any other link." Clemont slowly replied. "Hey, what's this?"

He opened a folder named 'Extension'. At once, six files appeared, each of them named the same as one of the six regions Ash had travelled so far – as Delia mentioned. There were more regions on the other hemisphere of the planet, but for some reason, there wasn't any file named after any of them.

James opened the one named 'Kanto'. The file opened to show this:

* * *

 ** _Main base: Viridian Forest, Team Rocket base, Kanto_**

 ** _Controlling Power: Mewtwo_**

 _Status: Caught, ready to use_

 ** _Device: Copying Mewtwo's Psychic Type_**

 _Status: Complete_

 _Glitches: No_

 _Weaknesses: Tin and Steel_

 _Maximum Limit: 200,000 Pokémon – extendable_

 _Controls: The Brain_

 _Side-effects: Yes, if the device is destroyed, the controlled pokémon will rampage_

 ** _Source: Electricity, from Lumiose City and Solar Power - can be run with electric type attacks_**

 _Mode of transmission: Underground cables_

 _Status: Complete, ready to use_

 _Use: To extend the range_

 ** _Note: Solar power placed on the HQ walls. HQ will have to rise to use it to its maximum capability. The range is to be extended with the help of the other five regions' radio observatories._**

 ** _Main source: HQ, placed in the pentagon_**

 _Status: Complete_

 _Location: Underground_

 _Precise time: 21st December 10:10:20 AM – 24 hours to go…_

 ** _Area to be affected: The whole Kanto region_**

 ** _Area to be unaffected: Pallet Town,_ _West part of Viridian City_**

 ** _The person(s) taking care of the unaffected area: Jake and Sadie_**

* * *

"What is this?" Dawn asked, reading the whole thing. "I didn't really understand much, but it must have something to do with their plan, right?"

"But if it really is," May said. "Why is Jake and Sadie's name in it?"

As soon as she asked that, their eyes widened at the realization. They snapped their head towards where the two trainers had been standing, but there was no one there now.

"I should have figured out." Cilan said grimly. "Those two must have been placed by that Team Rocket to eavesdrop on us. And now, they have escaped."

Meowth gave his two companions the 'I told you so' look, before turning towards the others. He suddenly recalled seeing something he had decided to check later – the two huge bags. Now, with how things had turned out, he could see what those bags contained.

"I think," he said, getting their attention. "I think I know where those two are."

"Where?"

"Just follow me."

* * *

"So why are we running?" Sadie asked, as she and Jake ran towards their belongings.

"Didn't you notice? We have been found out." Jake replied tensely.

"What?! How? What happened?"

"When they opened that folder 'Extension', they saw the file 'Kanto'."

"Well, if they opened that, they would see our names written in it. After that, you don't even need to be a rocket scientist to figure out about us."

"Yeah, so now there is no choice for us; we have got to run."

Sadie sighed. She really didn't want the moment to end when she was having fun. She couldn't help but start to like the group of trainers that had so readily accepted them as if they were some old friends, instead of some strangers.

"I know what you are thinking." Jake interrupted her thoughts. "But there is nothing we can do about it. Even if they were friendly; after knowing the truth, I doubt they would even bother about us."

Sadie sighed again sadly. "Yeah, I know that. I wish sometimes, though, if we could go back to being normal, regular trainers with their usual goals. I wish we had never encountered Team Rocket."

"Well, however you look at it, we are stuck now. We can't go back to them, and we can't go anywhere freely. Officer Jenny is sure to alert all the officers."

The two sighed again as they increased their pace to retrieve their stuff quickly and leave the town.

* * *

 _And now, to go straight until there is a hidden wall to the right and I should be able to see a right turn another fifty meters ahead._ Serena thought, recalling the map from her memory.

Deciding to not waste much time, she started running. Not too long after that, she noticed a door opening in the wall. Familiar with the hidden doors by now, she stopped at once and stuck to the wall beside her, hoping the shadowed part of that passage to be enough to hide her.

Two grunts walked out the door and left, leaving the door open – the door was probably automatic. As soon as the grunts' backs were turned, she ran as noiselessly as she could and reached up to the door just as it started to close. Wasting no time, she slipped inside as the door closed completely, engulfing her in darkness.

Feeling slightly apprehensive, she pulled out her partner's pokéball and released her. Noticing the darkness at once, Braixen lit the stick in her hand to give enough light for the two to look around.

The pair noticed themselves standing in the dark hallway that, unknown to them, Ash had passed through around half an hour ago. They glanced around in the limited light that the stick gave to make sure they didn't miss anything. After making sure of the fact, they started walking down the hidden passage slowly, taking care not to make any noise.

Around ten minutes passed before they reached the room from where Ash had taken the bag and clothes. They were surprised to see the room in what she thought as disarray.

 _The window is broken._ She thought, going up to it and checking its size. _And it is large enough for me to slip through; though I wonder what broke it._

She looked around the room to see if she could figure out what had happened there. In the process, she noticed the cotton thread tied to one of the legs of the bed. It looked like it marked the way to somewhere.

She and Braixen exchanged glances before unanimously deciding to follow it. Serena nimbly picked it up and started walking, letting the thread slip through her hands as she followed it. The thread went out of the open door – other than the one she came through – and went into the dark corridor. Although apprehensive, she followed it, trying to suppress her fear in the process.

 _I wonder if this thread is something that Ash tied there._ She thought. _Because I don't see the reason why the grunts, who are familiar with the whole system, would do this. Even the new recruits would know the way around._

With that thought strengthening her resolve, she increased her pace, hoping to find Ash on the way.

* * *

"Looks like they escaped," Paul said.

The others with him said nothing – they were too tired and too busy panting to reply anything.

"So it seems," Jessie said. "I wanted to ask them, though, why they would do that. They seemed quite friendly."

"I am not sure myself." Trip said. "But now, they are our enemies."

The girls frowned. They certainly felt that the two were honest enough and that they were really having fun while being with them; they being part of Team Rocket seemed out of place. Something didn't feel right about it, but they kept the thought to themselves, knowing the boys would disagree at once.

"But if they weren't with us until when they came to get their pokémon 'healed', how did they find out about all the details about us?" Clemont asked, looking over James's shoulder at the Holo Caster he had; he had connected it with the main terminal and was using it to scan through all the suspicious folders in the Rocket database.

"What do you mean?" Officer Jenny asked, walking up to them. She glanced over James's other shoulder and checked out what the two were looking at. Her face started darkening as she read it all.

"They actually dared to send the HQ the information about all the trainers present along with their pokémon and their weaknesses?!" She exclaimed in annoyance. "I can't believe them! They just acted like friends because they wanted to send all the information to their HQ."

"What?!"

The others couldn't believe what they had just heard.

"It was just a façade?" Max asked with some uncertainty in his voice.

"So it seems," Officer Jenny said grimly.

"Looking at the message details," James started, getting their attention, "it seems like they didn't send the details until the day before yesterday."

 _I should have checked those bags right then._ Meowth thought. _I would have been able to already figure out that they were a part of Team Rocket. Maybe then, we could have caught them red-handed._

"That isn't necessary now." Officer Jenny snapped, much to their shock. "The thing that must be looked into is that Kanto document – the one with some details regarding their plan; especially when they include Mewtwo."

Dawn pulled out her pokédex to check about the pokémon but the pokédex showed that there wasn't any data available. Noticing her action, Misty said, "You won't find any data about Mewtwo. Other than the fact that there exists only one in the whole world, that pokémon was artificially created as a clone to Mew. That's why there is no available data about it."

"You mean that Mewtwo is just a clone?" Dawn asked incredulously.

"Yeah, but much more powerful – and thanks to Team Rocket of course," Misty finished, saying the last bit with an edge to her voice.

"Why should Team Rocket be at the center of everything?" May asked sighing. Misty shrugged.

"I have seen him, though." She said, getting shocked glances from everyone, except Brock.

"You have?!" Iris exclaimed.

"Yeah," Brock replied, turning everyone's glances at him. "We somehow managed to change Mewtwo's decision of killing us; you see, the Rocket scientists, that created him, infuriated him, forcing him to make the decision of killing us by creating clones of all the strong pokémon that he would come across."

"Ash had died then," Misty continued, reminiscing the then painful moment. "I never really figured out how he was brought back, but I was glad he was safe. That guy is always up to something reckless."

"I wonder just how many near-death experiences he has had." Dawn said.

"Don't forget his pokémon." Clemont put in. "Pikachu had died, but thanks to Xerneas, he was back to normal."

"What's up with that guy? How does he manage to meet so many legendaries?" Meowth asked; mentioning Xerneas reminded him of that.

"I don't exactly remember it." Brock said. "But I think Ash is 'The Chosen One'. Don't ask me anything about it, though. I don't remember anything other than that."

The others couldn't believe it. It seemed like there was more to Ash than they had thought. After all, no average trainer would get to meet the legendaries in each region that easily.

"You know what," Dawn said, attracting everyone's attention. "Ash can also feel aura. Do you remember that episode with Hunter J and that Riolu?"

"How long are you guys going to stand there?" Officer Jenny's voice cut in. They turned towards her to see her standing on the edge of the forest. "Did you forget that we have some work to do?"

"Coming!" Everyone chanted and ran towards her to finally take the first step to take down Team Rocket.

* * *

 **That completes another chapter! I hope you liked this chapter as much as I did. Don't forget to review!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 20

"Recalling your past?" Giovanni's assistant, June asked.

Giovanni didn't reply anything. He was sitting in his office with Persian in his lap; the ceiling was open, revealing the sky above. If someone saw it from above, it would appear as if a glass window had been fixed in the ground itself with an office attached to it.

June took his silence in the positive. She went up to him and looked up. She usually took her job seriously, but there were some times when she could feel free to talk with her boss as an equal. After all, they used to be best friends.

"Don't worry." She said softly. "I will be with you until the end."

* * *

 _"_ _Mom, mom, see what I found!" A young Giovanni ran towards his mother. She looked much like him, and was wearing the typical Team Rocket uniform._

 _"_ _What is it, Gio?"She asked emotionlessly._

 _It wasn't unusual; that's how she usually was when she was easygoing. There were times when she had almost killed her own son when she was really angry – no one could stop her then, not even her assistant – Jessie's mother. Nevertheless, the boy loved his mother dearly._

 _"_ _Come with me! I will show you." Giovanni exclaimed, tugging on her arm._

 _As soon as he tugged a third time, his mother snapped and pushed him away. He landed on the ground hurt, and looked at her in fear; now that she was angry, he knew she would follow him to the depths of hell just to punish him. He waited for the anger to burst upon him and closed his eyes._

 _"_ _Just leave!" She said._

What in the world… _Giovanni thought, looking up to her shocked. He couldn't believe she was just letting him go. If that was the fact, something must have really shaken her down to her very core._

He couldn't ask her anything; she had already left to 'take care' of the organization, Team Rocket. He never understood what that organization actually was, nor did he dare to ask his mother. All he knew was that the organization was their source of income and that he was not supposed to tell anyone about it.

The secrecy had led him to have no friends, since it became a habit for him – he ended up hiding anything that was told to him. He wouldn't even convey some message that was supposed to be told to others. No one knew why he was so secretive, but it didn't matter. Eventually, he lost all his friends and became socially awkward.

Being all alone the rest of his life from there, he just stopped going out or trying to make friends. There was only one girl though, who didn't seem to be afraid of him or didn't seem to end her friendship with him – that was June, his then best friend.

When June's mother had found about the secretive nature of Giovanni and the secret job that his mother might be working on, she had ordered June to break her friendship with him, especially when she thought there was a probability that she could be in a shady job.

Nevertheless, she didn't want to break her friendship with him. But she couldn't do anything when Giovanni became socially awkward and stopped coming out of his house. She couldn't find him at all anywhere, not even at night when there was no one usually out.

Years passed like that. After just a couple of months, June had given up trying to find him or talk to him. She still remembered him, but now it was impossible to find him. He had already moved somewhere – no one knew where. Forgetting an old best friend was very difficult – especially if he/she was your first and closest best friend.

Years later, news spread about the death of Team Rocket boss and the dissolution of the Team Rocket – she had known about the evil things that the organization had done, so she was naturally disgusted. But a photo caught her eye and she recognized the boy in the photo at once – it was Giovanni. She had no doubt about it.

She looked down at the caption that said:

'This boy has gone missing. He is supposed to be the child of the dead Team Rocket Boss. If you find him, report to the police at once.'

She couldn't believe it; she had to reread the caption again to make sure.

 _Giovanni was the child of Team Rocket's boss?_ She asked herself. _It's no wonder he was so secretive. His mother must have terrified him and forced him not to speak anything regarding her or her job._

With the realization of the fact, she decided to start hunting down Giovanni and ask for herself to see if what she had derived was true or not.

It took her months before she was able to find Giovanni – as the new boss of the rising Team Rocket. She found him on a cliff as he watched the sunset. They didn't have to talk at all; he recognized her at once. They spent some time in silence, before June finally spoke.

"Will you let me be your personal secretary?" She asked. She hadn't thought about what would happen if she joined, but she didn't care. Maybe it was the friendship between them that had created a strong bond. She didn't know. She only wanted to be of help to him.

"Be anything you want as long as you are faithful and serious about it." Giovanni replied emotionlessly, much like his mother. He had gone through something he hated to talk about, and now, he was on the same path that his mother had followed – the path of hate.

After what had happened, he hated everyone and had decided to control the world. Taking his time, he had been developing Team Rocket internally, while everyone who knew about the disbanding of Team Rocket forgot about it. Once he was done stabling the organization, he had started upgrading and developing it and had started making plans, and now, he had already started the plan.

The only thorn in his path was Ash Ketchum.

* * *

"From what we have found so far," Officer Jenny said, "it seems like they are going to use Mewtwo's psychic power to control pokémon."

"And this device they are talking about," Clemont added, "it looks likes it can replicate Mewtwo's attacks. Not only that, it can use Mewtwo's power directly and can change its power as well."

"Plus, they have captured some other observatories in the other regions with the help of some teams like theirs." Cilan said, hanging up the receiver.

"They have thought out the whole plan well, haven't they?" Gary asked. "That means we still have got to do something about the other observatories as well. What happened to the police there?"

"They say they just recently found out about the raids." Cilan replied. "Apparently, they must have captured everyone they came across during the raids."

"And the even bigger problem is," Clemont started, "that all the raided observatories are large-scale ones – the ones that are used to see into the depths of the universe. That means they are pretty powerful and useful when it comes to transmit and receive waves."

"So what are we going to do about it?" May asked.

"Split up." Misty answered at once. "Right?"

Officer Jenny nodded. "Split up and head back to your home regions. Try to find the observatories and help the police there."

"They must be Team Aqua…" May said.

"And Team Magma…" Max added.

"Team Galactic…" Dawn continued.

"Team Plasma…" Iris stated.

"And maybe Team Flare as well." Clemont finished. "We'll have to split up and disengage the observatories and the antennas."

"We'll be able to do it faster by splitting up." Brock said.

"And while you do that," Officer Jenny said, "I will help get Ash and Serena out of their HQ or maybe somehow tell them to start destroying the observatories from inside. My subordinates will destroy the other observatories."

"But you have still got to find the HQ if you want to destroy it from outside." Professor Oak said. "How are you going to do that?"

"That's true as well." Officer Jenny said pensively.

Meanwhile, Max, on a hunch, got the map in which Officer Jenny had crossed the positions of the observatories. He opened it and looked closely at the observatories' locations. Suddenly, he realized something and pulled out a world map that Professor Oak had with him. He marked the positions of the observatories in the world map roughly and stared at them again.

In the world map, the marks looked like they were at an equal distance from each other. He quickly picked the positions of the other five regions that Ash had travelled to and noticed something strange. It looked like if he drew a line from each observatory to the region in that direction, the four lines that would form would meet at the center of the pentagon-like structure that the four observatories virtually made. In other words, from the center of the pentagon (which would have formed had there been another observatory at the north), the center, the observatory and the relevant region, all of them lay out linearly. The only region that didn't follow the conditions was Sinnoh, at the north of Kanto – the reason being no observatory in the north.

 _I wonder if there's any observatory or a radio telescope at the north that forms a line with Sinnoh._ Max thought. _If there isn't, it wouldn't make any sense for them to have a file with 'Sinnoh' on it._

"What are you doing?" Bonnie asked, appearing beside him.

"I think I saw something interesting." Max said.

"What?"

Max didn't reply. Instead, he went up to where Officer Jenny and Clemont were sitting running the gears of their brains. "Hey guys, see what I saw."

Max showed them what he had drawn on the map and what he had figured out by it. The others were surprised about the information and the fact that they hadn't noticed it before. May slapped him on the back.

"That's something we should have noticed earlier." May said with a smile. "But I guess my brother has got the observer's eye here."

"It will be useful." Officer Jenny said slowly, nodding. "I think we have got to take care of all those observatories first. We will think about the other ones later."

"You mean the ones in the other regions, right?" Dawn asked.

"Right."

"You know what; I can guess something." Clemont said, staring at the map.

"What?" Misty asked.

"I think that the headquarters might be in the centre of the pentagon." He said slowly. "It is a command centre after all. They would need it right in the center to prevent any delay of orders."

"I don't know why but it makes some sense." Brock nodded slowly. "But if we want to know for sure…"

"…we will have to check it ourselves." Officer Jenny finished. "Let's go then."

* * *

"Alright! We are about to reach there." Brock called. He had the map with him. Along with him were Officer Jenny, Paul, Dawn and Cilan. They were about to reach the center of the 'pentagon'. The rest had separated to go inside the observatories and see what they could destroy, leaving Clemont and James to search the Rocket database to find some more data.

The five soon came across a clearing. Strangely though, the clearing was rectangular in shape with sharp edges and corners. Even the trunks of the surrounding trees were cut straight. It looked like a large, rectangular cookie-cutter had been used to clear that part of the forest. The five realized at once that they had stumbled upon something unusual and unnatural; it was quite obvious.

Gary took the first step in the clearing. As soon as he stepped in the rectangle that the clearing formed, his foot slipped and he stumbled.

"What's going on there?" Officer Jenny called, as Gary steadied himself.

"The floor is slippery," Gary said, sounding like he couldn't believe himself. "And it is absolutely flat."

"What do you mean?" Brock asked, and stepped in the rectangle. At once, his foot slipped. His other foot was still in the bushes, so he didn't slide across, but he realized what Gary meant.

Seeing the actions, Cilan bent down and studied the floor carefully, and almost immediately, he realized what was wrong.

"This isn't the forest floor." Cilan said. "It looks like glass."

"What?" Officer Jenny bent down beside the connoisseur and tapped the floor. "You're right. This _is_ glass."

"What's a glass doing _here_ of all places?" Paul asked.

Suddenly, the grass beneath the glass started sliding, revealing a room underneath. They were too shocked with the sudden movement to do anything. They just stared – right at the person they were trying to find.

"Giovanni!" Paul muttered.

"Oh, so you found about this, huh?" Giovanni said from inside. His voice resounded slightly in the silent forest.

"Giovanni, what do you intend to do with those observatories?" Officer Jenny yelled at him.

"What do I intend to do?" Giovanni repeated the question. "I haven't any reason to tell you."

The officer bit her lip, frustrated. Then, her eyes widened as she realized something. She decided to use it as what she thought was their trump card.

"Let me reframe the question." She said, getting a cold yet somewhat curious glance. "What would you do if those observatories were destroyed?"

The expression on the Rocket boss's face didn't change. "First: There's no way you could destroy the observatories with my men guarding them. Second: Even on the slight chance that you do manage to defeat them, it will be no use."

"What do you mean by no use?" Gary asked.

"By now, you would have found about Mewtwo, right?" Seeing the expression on their faces gave him his answer. "And you would have also found out about the other raids in the foreign regions."

"What are you implying?" Cilan asked.

"Just that no matter how hard you try, you won't be able to stop me from getting to my goal."

"And the goal is…?"

"To control the world,"

"You must be mad." Officer Jenny finally said. "You do know what happened with the other teams that tried to take over the region, don't you?"

"That's why I have thought out the plan well enough to make sure there are no flaws." Giovanni replied, his voice showing mild irritation. "Besides, by controlling the world, I will also be able to fulfill _their_ goals."

"And what exactly is _your_ goal in here?" Paul asked.

"Team Rocket was formed secretly as an underhanded way of making money. Therefore, my goal was making money. But if I control the world, not only would I need no money, but I would also fulfill the goal of the other teams. It basically gives me authority."

The five, hearing the plans, clenched their fists in anger, hatred and disgust.

"And one more thing," Giovanni said, as they perked their ears. "If Jake and Sadie are still with you, tell them that they are not needed anymore. And that if they talk about anything regarding the plans, I will come to kill them myself."

"Just how ruthless could you get?" Officer Jenny snapped.

She didn't get an answer. Instead, the window – if you could call it that – closed, leaving them wondering what they were really up against.

"Let's go." Paul said, turning around. "There's nothing for us to do here anymore."

Following his advice, the five left the clearing with their head full of thoughts.

Meanwhile, in the bushes near them, Jake and Sadie couldn't believe what they had just heard. They had come there to let boss know they were done with the job that he had given. Seeing the five people appear, they had hidden in the bushes and overheard the whole conversation.

"Can you believe it?" Jake whispered. "He is going to kill us if we talk."

"He-he's unbelievable." Sadie whispered back fiercely. "Does he think of us as some objects that he can just throw away at will?"

"It seems like he does."

There was a pause.

"How about we talk?" Sadie asked.

"What do you mean?" Jake replied with a question of his own.

"Just that let's help _them_ destroy the headquarters."

"Isn't that a bit… reckless?"

"Maybe it is. But now that we have seen so much, I am pretty sure that they want to make sure their plan is successful, no matter the consequences. And I sure as hell won't let them hurt anyone."

"Isn't it ironic? We had helped them get so far with their plan, and now it will be us who will have a major role in destroying the plans as well."

"Guess it is. Let's go."

* * *

 _Just how long does this thread go?_ Serena thought to herself, taking another turn. _I must have been walking for hours!_

She and Braixen were still following the thread that Ash had been unwinding ever since he had left the room behind. It was already an hour since they left the room.

 _Are we going in circles?_ Serena thought to herself.

She exchanged glances with her partner and nodded. The two broke into a run with Serena making sure that she wouldn't lose the thread in her hand. Soon, they reached another bend and turned, only to stop right in their tracks, for a hidden door was opening.

Braixen put out the fire as the two stuck to the wall, hoping whoever was coming didn't have a flashlight or that he wouldn't light up the dark corridor. Instead of the relaxed footsteps that they were expecting, they were greeted by the sound of hurried footsteps.

 _I wonder why he is running._ Serena thought to herself, as the footsteps came near.

As soon as the footsteps passed her, she heard some shouts that made her follow the person that had just passed her.

"Ash!" She called, picking up the pace with her partner by her side. It seemed like Ash had heard her, for the hasty footsteps had slowed down quite a lot. "Braixen."

"Brai," The fire-type pokémon lighted up her twig as the two noticed the jogging figure a hundred meters ahead of them.

Much to their relief, it was the person they had been trying to find out – Ash!

"Ash!" Serena exclaimed, slowing down as she neared the trainer.

Instead of saying anything, Ash took hold of her hand tightly and started running, pulling her along.

"What are you doing, Ash?" Serena asked, trying to keep pace with him.

"Just run," Ash simply said, speeding up his pace even more. "I will explain everything later."

Finally managing to catch up with the fast trainer, Serena felt relaxed. Now that she had found him, nothing seemed impossible anymore.

Half an hour later, the two reached the room, thanks to Serena who didn't lose the thread at all. The two were panting loudly with the exertion that the running had put them through.

As soon as she caught her breath, Serena went up to Ash and hugged him tight. Ash was too surprised to move. Sure, he was kissed by a girl once, but he had never been in such close proximity with a girl. It made his heart beat faster.

"S-Serena," he said uncomfortably. "I think we have some important matters on hand."

"Sorry," Serena said simply, letting him go slowly. A tear made way down her cheek. "It's just that I am so glad you are safe."

"Uh… yeah," Ash said, not knowing what else to speak. "Let's get out of here first."

"Yeah," Serena said and smiled. Ash felt relaxed seeing her smile. Maybe, there was still some time to take actions, after all.

Serena returned Braixen back to her pokéball after thanking her and the two turned to the window. Ash crawled out the window first, followed by Serena.

"Finally!" Ash exclaimed, stretching to his full length and letting his muscles relax for a while. "Finally, I am out of that maze!"

"You must be really happy."

"Of course I am!"

Serena smiled in response. Suddenly, she heard some shouts.

"Wait, do you hear that?" She asked Ash, as the two didn't speak a word. At first, they thought that the voices were coming from the outside, but they soon realized that the voices were inside.

"Did you find anyone?" A voice asked. Ash recognized it to belong to one of the grunts that he had overheard while hiding under the bed.

"No." Another voice answered. Ash recognized that voice as well. "That Ketchum brat managed to escape, and none of the others have found that performer or that pink-ribbon pokémon – what was its name?"

"Sylveon,"

"Right, Sylveon. If it wasn't for that damn pokémon, the twerp would have died."

"Yeah. I still find it hard to believe that the performer's Eevee would evolve to try and save someone other than its trainer."

"Why do you care? That Sylveon wouldn't do much damage even if we let it roam. Our main priority is finding Ketchum and that performer."

"Yeah, let's go." There was a snicker. "You know what; even if Ketchum escapes, he will come back here, because his pokémon are still with us – especially that powerful Pikachu."

A snicker was heard in response. "It's good you told me that. Now, our main priority would be the performer. We will catch that Sylveon the last."

Footsteps faded away as the two grunts left.

While Ash clenched his fist in anger, Serena couldn't believe what she had just heard. _A Sylveon here? Does that mean Eevee evolved? Or is it just some random Sylveon?_

She got up slowly and looked inside to see that the room was empty. Following her instinct, she started climbing on the sill before Ash pulled her down.

"Have you gone mad?" He asked, pulling her with him, as he ran and jumped into the nearby bushes. "Why are you climbing back inside?

"Don't you realize?" She asked, but then realized that Ash didn't know. She simply continued, "That Sylveon they could be talking about – it could be my Eevee."

"Huh?" Ash couldn't believe what he had just heard. "What do you mean to say?"

"Eevee disappeared right around the time when that hyper beam struck you. And what they just talked about; I am pretty sure the Sylveon was my Eevee – she must have evolved to try and protect you."

"How can you be so sure? For all we know, there could be wild Sylveons out there."

"Because first: Eevees are usually found while they are in their eggs. And second: Sylveons must be rare in Kanto."

"What makes you think they are rare?"

"I doubt you have seen any pokémon in Kanto that is pure fairy-type."

"Guess you are right," Ash agreed after some time. "But that still doesn't mean you can just barge in there recklessly."

"You sure are one to talk, considering how many times _you_ have been reckless."

"Yeah, but those conditions were different. Here, you can't go in without having a strong pokémon by your side. And besides, they still have my pokémon with them; they can easily control them. Considering my fight with Giovanni, they have the means."

There was a pause.

"Are you really going to leave them? Especially when they trust you and probably think that you will soon save them," Serena asked seriously.

Ash didn't say anything for a while. Then, he sighed. "Do you really think I will leave them?"

Serena stared him in the eye. She could see the loyalty for his captured pokémon as well as the pain of having to leave them here. She sighed. "I guess you don't want to."

"That's right. I don't want to, but I _have_ to. Other than the fact that they can be easily controlled, Team Rocket can use them as hostages as well. That's why I will have to go back and come here with a plan to successfully release them – and my pokémon of course. It's the most logical thought, won't you agree?"

Serena reluctantly agreed. It was the most rational thought, considering the situation they were in. "Fine. Let's go."

* * *

"There's that Sylveon! Don't let it escape!"

A voice resounded through the dark corridor as a lone Sylveon ran nimbly and silently. The Sylveon had ended up in the maze of passages when she had slid down the slide in the tree trunk. As soon as she had arrived in the maze, she could smell a familiar scent – the one belonging to her trainer's crush – maybe even future love – Ash. She had been following the scent until she ran into some grunts. Now, she was trying to evade them, but wasn't successful – and in the process, she had lost the scent as well.

It must have been hours while the fairy-type tried to evade them, but each time she managed to evade one group, she ran into another.

Finally deciding, the Sylveon stopped and hid herself into the darkest corner she could find and waited. Soon, the group that had been following her appeared and passed quickly, not even bothering to notice the Sylveon lying in the corner.

As soon as the group passed, the Sylveon sighed and got up. She stretched her legs and started walking slowly, taking extra care not to make any noise and to be in the darkest side of the passage. Half an hour passed before she picked up the rather faint smell of the trainer she had saved – along with her own trainer's scent.

She felt relieved, thinking that her trainer, Serena had found Ash. She started following the scent in hopes of finding the two humans. An hour passed with her following the scent before she came across the room with the broken window. She tracked the scent right up to the broken window and paused for a moment. A moment's hesitation later she was outside.

The scent was even stronger, and she could smell the two distinct smells easily. Feeling relieved, she started running, hoping to come across the two as soon as possible.

* * *

"So you didn't tell them?" June asked.

"They don't need to know." Giovanni coolly replied. "It would only be a hindrance and it would delay the plans as well."

June simply shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think it would have mattered either way. There's no way they could destroy ten large observatories located in different regions; they are just too far away to do anything."

Giovanni didn't say anything, but he did agree to himself that she was right. After all, the most they could do was get desperate to try and stop them.

"Get to your job." He ordered her. She nodded and left the office. Giovanni snickered. "Let them know the hard way who they are up against."

* * *

 **Giovanni's past had always been a mystery in the animé. So, I thought why not try to explain his past as well. Of course, I didn't fully explain everything in this chapter; it was mostly in June's point of view (Another thing is that his assistant was never called by her name in the dub, so I made this name for her.) Giovanni's complete past is something I will work on later, and I am pretty sure I won't forget to post it. This was a last minute addition so I am not sure that it was really good, but I hope you like it.**

 **That aside, this chapter was quite short. I couldn't really write everything from the next chapter here, or the length would have crossed 10K words (which is something I want to avoid for the time being.) So hopefully, I will be able to write out next chapter better.**

 **Until then, see ya!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Welcome back, everyone, to the 21st chapter of this story!**

 **In the last chapter, I guess Ash 'leaving and coming back with a plan' was too out of character, considering that he has been portrayed to be a person who acts out of instinct. Well, I will tackle that later in the story.**

 **Now, without further delay, let's continue with this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 21

"This is bad; very, very bad." Clemont muttered, loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"What isn't good?" Officer Jenny asked. The officer had been in close contact with them, trying not to waste too much time solving this case. They weren't really making as much progress as she thought.

"Look at this. This graphic," Clemont said, showing them the visual lifelike diagram – or rather a short video that repeated itself endlessly. The picture showed a sphere with something revolving around it, shaped like a satellite – precisely, the world and the satellites revolving around it. There were also ten observatory-like structures on the virtual planet.

Every five seconds when the satellites came in particular positions, the picture stopped moving them. Instead, a red light originated from the five close observatory-like structures on the planet and went straight up to the now-stationary satellites. From there, it was reflected and amplified, and directed to the relevant observatory from the remaining ones – on the way it covered the whole land.

Once the light reached those observatories, it was reflected again and directed to a bigger satellite, which then redirected it at the planet. At the end of the picture, the whole planet was tinged red with only a small patch remaining blue (i.e., unaffected) – that patch was the centre of the five initial observatories, along with its surrounding area.

"Do you see what this means?" Clemont asked, as the picture continued again.

This time, the red light started from the five farther observatories and ended on the initial ones; once again, leaving the same patch uncolored.

"I think I do." Cilan slowly nodded his head. "Basically, those observatories that are to be used to transmit whatever waves they want to; they not only work as transmitter, but they are also receivers."

"Same with the other ones," Brock said. "They are transceivers, meaning they can both, transmit and receive signals."

"And from this animated picture, we can pretty much be sure that even if we destroy the observatories here, they will still be able to go with their plan." Officer Jenny said thoughtfully. "They will only need to redirect the electricity and those waves they want to transmit."

"That's bad news." Jessie said. "I guess we will have to take care of everything at once."

"Seems like it," James agreed. "So, how are we going to separate this time?"

"Pretty much like the last time," Officer Jenny replied at once. "Once again, it is up to you three to decide what region you are going to go to. Don't stay in Kanto; Misty, Gary and Brock are going to be here with me, so it won't be too much trouble for us to find Ash and Serena, and then do something about those observatories, and hopefully, about the headquarters as well. I will also inform my relatives in your region to back you all up."

"Guess we'll separate this time." Meowth answered, after a moment of thought. "We might be more helpful that way."

Jessie and James were surprised at his statement, but shrugged their shoulders. After all, the cat pokémon used to be their brains in the past. They didn't have a problem either way.

"Well, if that's the case, I will take Kalos." James said, looking at Clemont and Bonnie.

"And I will take Sinnoh," Jessie said, as Dawn nodded. Paul looked indifferent.

"Well, I will go to Hoenn." Meowth said, surprising the Hoenn natives, May and Max.

"Good! Then, separate!" Officer Jenny ordered, getting up. "Take care of the observatories in your regions. Take as many of your pokémon as possible."

"And don't worry about the limit on the number of pokémon." Professor Oak said, getting up as well. "I will let the other regional professors know about the current situation and give you special permission to get them all."

"But before that," Clemont interrupted, before they all separated. He quickly handed each group a Holo Caster, much like James's. "Keep these with you. They will help us keep contact with each other."

"When did you make them?" Bonnie asked, feeling surprised.

"When I wasn't working on that hacking thing, I studied James's Holo Caster and simply replicated it to make these." Seeing that Bonnie was about to say something, he hastily continued, "And don't worry. They won't explode."

Bonnie didn't seem amused or pleased at being interrupted, but she said nothing. Max chuckled quietly at her, knowing full well what she wanted to say.

"By the way, how are we going to get there in time?" May asked. "That Kanto file – didn't it say there were less than 24 hours left?"

"Yeah, we will have to find a quick way to get there." Iris added. "I don't think it is going to be easy to find a plane right now; let alone a ticket for that, if we find one."

"Char!"

The sudden interruption and yell surprised the whole group for a while. They turned towards the fire-type pokémon of Ash who had shouted out its name. Charizard stood there with a confident smile on his face. He slapped his chest and said again, "Char!"

The rest of the flying types present there appeared beside him as well, sharing the same look as him. Apparently, the whole horde of pokémon had been listening in on the whole conversation right from the start.

Brock stared at them for a while. Then, his eyes widened. "You guys… you don't intend to be our ride, do you?"

"Char!"

"Star!"

"Swel!"

"Noct!"

"Unfez!"

"Talon!"

Six of the flying-types made the most noise.

"Are you sure?" May asked hesitantly.

The flying-types shouted their approvals. Seeing that that was the best they could do, Brock finally nodded. "As long as you have the endurance; as soon as you feel tired, let us know. We will find a resting place."

Charizard seemed to object. Brock noticed him and interrupted, "I know you trust yourself, but if you end up too tired, you won't be able to help us much."

Charizard simply growled. The five groups quickly divided the flying-types and sat on their backs. Waving their goodbyes and thanking the Ketchum and the Oaks for their hospitality, the groups separated.

"Let's get to work." Officer Jenny said. "We've got to find Ash and Serena and let them know of the situation."

Suddenly, they heard a commotion from inside the lab; they had been outside in the field since it was too hot for anyone to sit inside.

"What is it?" Gary muttered, as he ran towards the source of the noise, followed by the rest.

The group ran inside and was greeted by a really reassuring and _romantic_ sight – as Delia thought. Ash stood there with Serena in his arms bridal-style. A moment passed before Serena noticed them. Her face went red at once. She nudged Ash and asked him to put her down. Ash didn't get why she would suddenly ask this, but put her on her feet anyway. As soon as he did, he noticed the group watching them, and felt relieved. He waved towards them with a goofy grin. "Hey!"

Delia ran towards them at once, and hugged Ash tight – tight enough for him to almost stop breathing.

"Mom, let… me… go!" He managed to squeak out. Delia understandingly let him go. Then, she hugged Serena just as tight, much to her surprise.

"I am glad both of you are safe." She said, her eyes glistening slightly.

"You really gave us a shock there, Ashy-boy." Gary drawled.

"Shut up." Ash snapped, taking them by surprise. "I still have got to get my pokémon out of there, as well as Mewtwo."

"They have got Mewtwo, just as that file said." Officer Jenny muttered.

"What file?" Ash asked curiously, apparently hearing her.

The group filled Ash and Serena in on what had been happening since their disappearance. Ash's expression showed contained fury by the time they finished. He punched his right hand in his left palm. "We've got to do quite a lot of things."

The others nodded.

"But," Ash continued, pointing towards Serena. "She needs something to eat."

As soon as he said that, they heard a loud growl. This time, though, it came from Serena. Serena went red, feeling embarrassed.

"I will just fix up a good meal for both of you." Delia said, hurrying into the kitchen.

"Not for me, mom!" Ash yelled after her. "I am already full!"

"Already? What do you mean?" Gary asked.

"While wandering that maze, I came across a kitchen." Ash replied. "I simply stuffed myself up there, in case I would need to go hungry again. I even kept some extra food with me."

Ash patted his full pockets. "But they won't be needed for the moment, I guess."

Serena went after Delia in the kitchen, leaving Ash, Gary, Misty, Brock, Officer Jenny and Professor Oak in the drawing room. Gary's face split into a sly grin.

"What were you doing with Serena, Ash?" He asked slyly.

"She almost passed out from exhaustion." Ash replied coolly.

Gary felt shocked – more due to his friend's cold manner, rather than the news itself. "What has got you so detached?"

"Sorry, really," Ash said, sighing. "Team Rocket has been on my mind for quite some time now. I can't get myself to focus on anything else. Sorry about the cold manner earlier."

"It's nothing to worry about." Gary dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "I understand it. _We_ understand it."

"Anyway," Brock started with a solemn face. "Where is Pikachu?"

"The question has been on my mind for quite some time as well." Ash reluctantly admitted. "I haven't seen him since that time when that hyper beam almost killed me. I was knocked out, and when I woke up, I was completely stripped of all my belongings."

"They must have made sure not to give you any chance of escaping." Brock observed. "So, care to explain what happened with you so far?"

Ash nodded and started. It took him almost an hour to explain everything he had seen, heard or felt. He included every minor detail he could remember. He also told them what he had heard about Jake and Sadie, and what exactly was going to happen with them. He elaborated every single detail he had found by that time. Officer Jenny looked thoughtful by the time he finished.

"Well, it was a good thing you were captured after all." She said slowly.

"What is so good about that?!" Gary yelled at her, shocked.

"Oh," She turned towards him, sweat-dropping. "I didn't mean it to sound that way. What I mean is it was a good thing you managed to escape from that room, or you wouldn't have found so much useful information about them."

"You should have said so…" Gary muttered.

"Anyway, I am going out." Ash said, running towards the door.

"Hey, wait a second! Where are you going?" Serena asked; she was already done stuffing herself up while Ash explained everything.

"To get some of my pokémon with me of course," Ash said, standing right in front of the closed door. "I still need to save Pikachu and the others. And then, we have got to destroy those observatories."

"I don't think you should go, Ash." Brock said slowly.

"What?" Ash looked shocked. "But they are waiting for me to rescue them. How can I sit here doing nothing?"

"Listen to me carefully." Brock said in a voice that calmed down the reckless trainer at once. "Don't forget that you are their target as well. Even if you escaped, they could have already figured out that you would come back to save your pokémon. For all we know, they could be waiting right now to ambush you."

"So, what do you want me to do?" Ash asked, turning to fully face him.

"Right now, we should all separate to take care of all the observatories in this region. It has already been a couple of hours since the others left, so they must have covered one-third of the total distance to the other regions. It would take us roughly the same time to reach those observatories and destroy them."

"Brock is right." Officer Jenny added. "If those observatories or at least, those telescopes in them are completely destroyed, their plans will be ruined. To take care of us, they will dispatch probably hundreds of grunts to make sure none of us escapes."

"So, that will be the moment when I go inside that maze again, right?" Ash asked.

"Right."

"And I will come with you." Serena said at once.

"But why? There is no need for you to face any danger again." Ash said, slightly shocked at her selflessness.

"That's not the point." Serena shook her head. "The point is I think I have figured out where the maps in that maze are and how they work."

"Right, those maps!" Ash muttered to himself. He looked thoughtful. "Why don't you just tell me where they are?"

"Even if I do," she started with a small smile. "Even if I do, you would probably forget the whole path, right?"

"I see what you mean." Brock chuckled. "Ash's forgetfulness is also a problem for us right now."

"Hey, come on, I am not that forgetful." Ash protested, but then sighed. Maybe, he would end up forgetting the path, and maybe even the way to open the maps. He had always depended on someone else to mark out his way in the journey, so he really wasn't the best in that particular job. He hadn't even remembered the path to the HQ from the maze, and had wandered for some time before stumbling up on the room through which he had escaped.

"Alright, you can come with me." He relented.

Serena only smiled wider. _If only you weren't such an idiot!_

"Anyway, let's separate." Officer Jenny said. "Since both of you are going to go back in, it'd be better if you two stick together, Ash, Serena."

"Right."

"Right."

"And everyone, make sure to wreak havoc everywhere inside." Officer Jenny gave them a final tip. "Don't hesitate. Our main priority is to stop Team Rocket and their plans, and capture them. And we are going to make sure to teach that organization and their boss, a lesson."

They were about to separate when Brock suddenly asked, "What about Johto? There's a bound to be an observatory there as well, right?"

"Don't worry." Officer Jenny said. "I already told my relatives there to take care of that one."

After that, they separated to 'take care' of their goals.

* * *

"Professor Birch!" May exclaimed, seeing the friendly professor on the screen again.

"Don't bother! I know everything." Professor Birch told her at once. "I have already given you and Max special permission to carry as many pokémon as you want. Just go for it!"

He finished with a thumbs-up. May smiled and thanked him. She and the others were in the airport and had called Professor Birch to confirm about the fact. Now that, it was done, they would be able to directly get to their home and get their pokémon, and hopefully, take care of the observatory.

"Let's get home quickly." Max said.

"Not so fast," May said. "We've still got to go to the police station and talk to Officer Jenny. She would probably have the location of the observatory, since they found it."

"Alright then," Max said. He felt excited. "I already am excited to see what happens."

The two and the ex-Team Rocket trio's talking Meowth exited the airport and with May in lead, ran to the police station, which luckily wasn't too far away. Half an hour later, they came out of the police station with Officer Jenny with them. The three sat in the car as Officer Jenny drove. It was going to be a long three-hour trip.

* * *

"How much longer is it going to take?" Dawn asked. She, along with Paul and Jessie, had already talked to Professor Rowan and now, were on the way to the observatory in Officer Jenny's car.

"Probably another couple of hours," Officer Jenny answered.

There was silence for a while with no one saying anything – not that they had anything to talk about really.

"So," Officer Jenny started slowly. "What exactly has happened with Team Rocket that you had to separate in every region?"

"Didn't your sister… or aunt, or cousin tell you?" Dawn asked. Paul seemed to be sleeping; he had his eyes closed for quite some time now.

"Well, she did, but I didn't really understand."

"In simple words," Jessie started, "They want to take control of all the pokémon in the world, and intend to kill anyone who's in their path."

"That's how it can be put bluntly." Dawn said, as she noticed the officer's eyes widen. "But we can try to explain everything that had happened so far."

"Two hours are enough time for that." Jessie stated, as Dawn started. They both knew it was going to take quite a lot of their energy to completely explain everything, so they unanimously decided to skip the minor details for the time being. Paul slept as Officer Jenny listened to the tale.

* * *

"Undella Town?! That's way too far away." Iris exclaimed. "How are we going to reach there in time?"

"What are police helicopters for?" Officer Jenny countered.

"But will we reach in time?" Trip asked.

"They are slower than the flights that take us there." The officer admitted. "It will probably take us three hours. But that's the best we can do in this emergency situation."

"How I wish police had special private planes for such emergency situations as well!" Iris muttered. Fortunately for her, the approaching helicopter's noise drowned out her words and prevented others from hearing her.

They jumped inside as soon as the helicopter landed. The helicopter took off after loading some necessary supplies that Officer Jenny thought they would need. A few minutes later, they were airborne.

"What are we going to do until then?" Iris asked in a bored voice.

No one answered her; everyone seemed to be in their own thoughts. While Officer Jenny and Cilan seemed to be thinking about some plan, Trip had his eyes closed, as if resting for the apparent exertion that was to follow them, three hours hence.

Iris sighed. She wondered what to do to pass the time. There didn't seem to be anything around her that would really interest her. She glanced at Trip for a while, wondering if she should follow his lead and try to rest. But she felt that she wouldn't be able to sit still for three whole hours; she had way too much energy to do that.

 _I wonder if I will see Cynthia again._ She thought to herself, as she stared out the window at the slightly cloudy sky. _She won't be there probably. She must have some 'Champion' duties to fulfill._

Of course, Iris didn't know how accurate her wish was.

* * *

"Kalos is so beautiful!" James said out loud.

"How many times are you going to say that?" Bonnie asked, exasperated.

"Let him be, Bonnie." Clemont whispered to her, making sure James didn't hear them.

"But…"

"But this is the first time I am seeing Kalos without anything worrying me." James said. "Now that I think about it, I have never really seen all regions for what they are. I want to travel!"

"At least, grasp the situation!" Bonnie yelled at him. "You still have got some work to do!"

"Oh yeah, sorry, sorry." James apologized, but it seemed more like he just wanted to pacify the angry kid. He understood the situation more than her, regretting ever joining the organization. That's why he wanted to help the more than anyone else. But right now, he couldn't believe they never took the time to check out the region. There were so many amazing things that were native to the region and couldn't be found in others; he couldn't believe it. It just made him want to travel more than ever.

Bonnie didn't seem to pick up on the fact that he was just trying to pacify her. She still didn't seem to believe him completely, but didn't say anything. Clemont felt grateful.

The three were on their way to the observatory in Kalos, somewhere near Dendemille Town. They didn't really care about where exactly it was, considering Officer Jenny was with them. They were on one of the many police helicopters, and the helicopter was taking them to the place they were to wreck.

"So, would you mind explaining what have you found so far?" Officer Jenny asked.

"Sure," Clemont said. The three took turns explaining what had been going on with Team Rocket and what they had found so far.

"I see." Officer Jenny muttered, after hearing them out. "I guess that must have been the bad feeling I felt when we captured Lysandre. Is he getting desperate to escape?"

"It could be." Clemont said, hearing her. She was surprised he could hear her mutter above the noise of the helicopter blades. "We won't know until we get there."

They had found something surprising when they had opened the other files – except 'Johto'. Each of those files contained the same kind of information like the 'Kanto' file contained, with details regarding who was going to be in charge of the region once it was under their control – and each of those was given to the teams that had once been working there.

So, in short, Team Aqua and Team Magma were assigned Hoenn, Team Galactic: Sinnoh, Team Plasma: Unova, and Team Flare: Kalos. It seemed like the grunts, who hadn't been there during the end of their organization, were working under Team Rocket's orders for the individual team goals to be achieved.

And the situation was very bad. If Team Rocket was successful, it would fulfill their goal of controlling all the pokémon. Not only that, they would also hand over some control to the other teams, meaning the other teams would be able to fulfill their goals as well. Team Aqua and Team Magma would probably come to terms with each other and divide the world in half, with half of it covered with land, and the other half with water. Team Galactic would probably research on pokémon dwelling in space, and if they were successful, they would probably extend their control over them to reform the entire pokémon universe. Other than that, there were still Team Plasma and Team Flare. While Team Plasma's goal was to liberate all the pokémon from their trainers, Team Flare's goal was to create a 'beautiful and better' world. The two goals, basically, were the same – the elimination of all the pokémon trainers, coordinators, performers, stylists and basically everyone who kept poke their pets.

When they had realized the real circumstances they were in, they were shocked and had realized what their goal exactly was. If the teams were successful, it would probably mean the end of the world – that's what they deduced. And if that was the case, it gave them all the more a real reason to stop them. They just couldn't fail – falling short wasn't an option. Whatever they wanted to do to interfere with their plans, they would have to do it now, or it would be too late.

Sure, there were a lot of 'what-if's, but even if they were considered as just possibilities, they certainly seemed to tie in well with each other. And there was a huge chance that this was true – after all, it not only fulfilled their own goal, it also fulfilled the other goals. And after fulfilling their goals, the whole world would basically be in their control. And that was one thing, no one wanted to happen.

 _It's too bad._ Clemont thought to himself, looking at Bonnie; she was already bored and had fallen asleep. _It's too bad no one knows the danger they are in._

He stared at the innocent face of his little sister. Determination surged through him – the determination to succeed and stop those teams from achieving their goals. _I will save everyone and I won't give up until the very end!_

* * *

 **Well, that's it for today! See you all later!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 22

"Blaziken, use flamethrower!" May ordered again.

Blaziken followed the command and shot another flamethrower. The flamethrower went straight, aimed at the Mightyena and Crobat. The attack, just like the others fired so far, was reflected back at once with twice the strength and speed.

"Dodge it!" May yelled desperately. Blaziken barely managed to escape the strong attack, as it jumped aside.

"We already warned you it's not possible to hit us." A Rocket grunt said.

"Shut up! It's not up to you to decide!" Max yelled at him.

May, Max and Meowth, along with Officer Jenny had reached the observatory they had been assigned to take care of. As soon as they had reached there, they were greeted by the Rocket grunt. He had released his Mightyena and Crobat, as if challenging them. The three other than Officer Jenny, seeing only him, thought it to be easy to defeat him. Their decision, however, proved to be wrong. They had been fighting him for who-knows-how-long, but none of their attacks so far had hit him. Even his pokémon had gone to sleep with nothing to fight for. All of their attacks were being reflected back right at them with twice the strength and speed, making it very difficult to dodge them. Due to the continuous barrage of their attacks and the reflected attacks being able to hit them easily, their pokémon had ended up being knocked out. Only Blaziken was holding out so far.

 _This is no use._ Officer Jenny thought, staring at the tired and bruised Blaziken. _All the attacks are just being reflected back. This has become a battle of endurance, rather than strength. And I doubt Blaziken is going to be able to keep on standing any more._

It seemed like May had already picked up on that fact. She bit her lip in frustration, trying to think of a way out. There didn't seem to be anything though.

 _What are we going to do now?_ She thought. _Beautifly still hasn't come back from inside the observatory. Were there even more grunts inside? I hope not._

May was thinking about her Beautifly. She had secretly sent the butterfly pokémon inside the observatory with the goal to destroy all the wires it could see. They must have been fighting for almost half an hour, but she still couldn't see Beautifly coming out of the observatory.

"May!" Max's yell suddenly interrupted her thought, as she saw Blaziken being knocked out by a Shadow Ball from Mightyena.

"Blaziken!" May yelled, running towards her knocked out partner. "I am sorry."

She returned the last of her pokémon to the pokéball. The Rocket grunt laughed. "You guys are so weak! And to think _you_ are the Princess of Hoenn!"

He laughed again, filling Max with rage. "Hey, shut up! You don't have a right to talk, you coward! Anyone can win with the help of this strange device that reflects everything. If you want to laugh, laugh after winning fairly."

"Everything is fine in love and war." The grunt quoted. "And this is pretty much war."

"He's right in a way, Max." Meowth whispered. "You can't really expect an evil person to not be deceitful."

"Well if that's the case," Max said, turning towards him with a devious grin on his face, the shine on his glasses making him look intimidating. Meowth gulped in fear. Max picked him up and threw him at the grunt, yelling "HELP US, INSTEAD OF STANDING HERE DOING NOTHING!"

"I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS!" Meowth yelled back. He flew through the air and landed right in front of the Mightyena.

He looked up and gulped again. The Mightyena opened his eye and stared. The two stared at each other for quite a while, before Meowth yelled in fear and ran a dozen steps backward, away from the dangerous pokémon.

The grunt laughed loudly. "Is this the best you can do? That cat isn't even worth anyone's time."

"I will show you what I really am." Meowth muttered angrily, unsheathing his claws.

"Oh really?" The grunt asked mockingly; apparently, he had heard him.

"Of course," Meowth said. "You will regret saying that."

Meowth ran, readying his claws to strike. He was about to jump on the grunt when suddenly a voice was heard that stopped him in his tracks in disbelief.

"Stop playing around with that cat, Dick. That cat isn't even worth anyone's time."

Sadie appeared from the bushes, shocking them all. A Rhyhorn walked beside her; apparently, that was her Rhyhorn.

"Sadie!" May exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

May had thought that is she ever came across Sadie again, she would see her in the Rocket uniform. Surprisingly though, she was wearing the same outfit that she had been wearing the first day they met.

"Rhyhorn, go ahead." She simply said, pointing at the observatory, not bothering to answer the question. "I need to explain myself."

"Rhy!" Rhyhorn ran towards the observatory, as if going on to attack it.

"What are you doing, Sadie?" Dick asked, horrified at her action. "Don't you know the trouble you will get yourself in?"

"I have enough troubles as it is." She replied. "I am just ending one of those."

"Ending one of those?" Max asked confused.

"What do you mean?" May asked suspiciously.

Officer Jenny only stared at the scene unfolding in front of her.

"Well, quite a lot of things have happened," Sadie started slowly. "And the end result is that I – and Jake of course – have decided to side with you. In simple words, we have resigned our 'jobs'."

"Why do you think we would believe you?" May asked bluntly. Sadie had expected such a question.

"You will have to trust me for now. I will explain myself in due time." She replied.

"What the hell are you talking about, Sadie?" Dick asked, taken aback. "I thought you were going to be permanent recruits."

"That's what I thought too." She cut in. "But we found out that that wasn't the case."

"Well, if that's the case," Dick said, his expression turning blank. "You are just another enemy."

Sadie didn't budge. She had anticipated the reply.

"Mightyena, go take care of the Rhyhorn. Crobat, you will help me here."

Mightyena wordlessly left the battlefield and went after Rhyhorn who had already entered the observatory. Strangely though, no noise could be heard from inside. Sadie wondered what had changed since she left the place.

"Even that Rhyhorn of yours can't escape the range of that machine; don't forget that." Dick said with a sadistic grin. "There's no way anyone can destroy the observatory from the inside."

 _Well, I should have known._ May thought. _Beautifly must have been caught by that device, whatever it is. If that's the case, I will need to go inside to and get Beautifly out._

With that thought, May started creeping towards the bushes in hopes of leaving the grunt's eyesight.

"And once the pokémon are in our control, there's no way they can be put back into their pokéballs."

 _Damn it!_ May thought to herself. _And I won't be able to do anything to help Beautifly. With the way this guy is speaking, I doubt the usual bond-between-trainer-and-pokémon-is-necessary thing would work. I wonder what I should do._

"Where are you going, May?" Max whispered, noticing his sister creeping away slowly.

"I am going to save Beautifly." May simply answered.

"Have you found a way?" Officer Jenny asked, frustration clear in her voice. The fact that she couldn't be of any help in the situation aggravated her.

"Not yet. But I am sure I will." May replied as she reached the bushes. She quickly jumped in and ran, wondering how she should save her pokémon in case it was captured.

 _I wonder what that weird feeling was._ She thought. _I doubt I will be able to stop them on time. With the way that guy was speaking, they must have found some strange kind of power that is powerful enough for the pokémon-trainer bond to not work - at least, so it seems. I wonder what kind of power is that._

She reached the door of the observatory and ran in. The sight she was greeted with was an unexpected one. Her Beautifly was out cold right near the door, while Sadie's Rhyhorn was rampaging around destroying all the laid-out wires on the ground with Mightyena trying to stop him in vain. Although the destruction was continuing, there didn't seem to be any sign of short-circuit or anything that told her that the observatory was now out of order.

May slowly went inside, glancing at everything around her. "Wait a second, Rhyhorn!"

Rhyhorn heard her and stopped reluctantly. He generally never listened to anyone's orders other than his trainer's, but Sadie had given him special instructions to listen to anyone from that group. He stopped and walked over to her, with an out-cold Mightyena on his back.

May smiled at the Rhyhorn, and before continuing, returned her pokémon. The pokémon was captured by the pokéball at once, reassuring her that it wasn't under anyone's control. After that, she quickly started walking in, trying to see the damage done so far.

The damage was really great by the things she could see. Rhyhorn alone managed to do that in such a short time – the fact surprised her very much.

 _But there doesn't seem to be anything that shows that the observatory is out of commission._ She thought. _Maybe, we should destroy the dish antenna itself. Clemont did say something about that, I think._

She knew none of them had any pokémon that was strong enough to do the job – they actually had no pokémon; all of them were knocked out. So whatever she was going to do, it had to be with the Rhyhorn that stood in front of her.

"Rhyhorn, do you mind helping me with something?" She asked sweetly.

Rhyhorn nodded, apparently liking her.

"Great! Then come with me."

The two went out through the front door. As soon as they ran out, they were greeted by another reassuring sight – Officer Jenny had the guy, Dick, all tied up, ready to go, with Max and Sadie standing beside them. May waved at them and ran behind the observatory where the antenna was fixed on the ground.

"Alright Rhyhorn, use tackle on that antenna!" She yelled, as Rhyhorn picked up speed.

The steel-type pokémon rammed his hard head on the base of the antenna. May, wanting to help, went near him and pushed against the base as well. The antenna budged just a little and started bending.

Seeing that this was going to be helpful, Officer Jenny, Sadie and Max, all three, ran up to the two and started pushing against the base as well. The base didn't hold up anymore and gave way, falling down with a huge noise.

"Yeah! We are finally done here!" Max yelled out loud, throwing both his hands in air.

"That's what you think." Dick said, giving a cunning smirk. "You might think you are done, but we aren't."

"What do you mean?" Sadie asked suspiciously. It seemed like she was completely kept in the dark about the whole situation.

"By destroying the bases here, you would just delay our plans by a month or so." Dick stated, the smirk never leaving his face. "All we would need to do is add some more dishes on the intermediate satellites, and we will be able to cover this region as well. Same with the other five – you can't stop us that easily."

"Then that means we just wasted our energy coming here." Max said.

"And if you hadn't done anything here, we could have just transmitted those psychic waves from here." Dick said, looking sad.

"So, basically, you didn't waste your time coming here." Officer Jenny said, walking up to Dick. "I will take care of him. You guys return to Kanto and help the others get rid of the observatories there."

"Yeah, sure." Sadie said, waving at the departing officer. She turned towards the others. "Let's go."

Unknown to them, the groups in regions other than Kanto had received the same kind of treatment when they had gone up to the observatories. They had managed to take care of everything there, but they had been told of the same thing that Dick had told them. Right now, everyone was on their way back to help the Kanto natives.

* * *

"So what are we going to do?" Serena asked. She and Ash were running towards the hole in the tree that Serena had told Ash. They had already taken care of the observatory they were assigned to. There hadn't been anyone protecting it, so they had rampaged around without interruption, breaking the antenna in the process as well.

"We'll get into the maze and you will remember the path that we have to take." Ash stated simply. "Until then, I will try to formulate a strategy. Hopefully, whatever I come up with would be helpful."

"That isn't really reassuring." Serena murmured sweat-dropping.

The two soon reached the entrance in the tree that Serena had fallen through. Ash, followed by Serena, slid down the slide and reached inside the maze. Both of them knew that they would have to walk the same path that they had walked just hours earlier to escape – unless there was some other way.

"Let's get to the first junction." Ash said, running ahead. "We will be able to find a map there."

"Right." Serena answered, following him.

The two soon reached the first junction. Ash looked at the edge of the passage but could only see the dark crack in the wall. He went right up to the crack and carefully stared. He could make out the red lasers that originated from there. He moved a hand in front of them. As soon as he did that, the corridor brightened with the appearance of a map.

Serena quickly went up to it and started checking to see if she could find the room they wanted – the one with Mewtwo in – or, a name that could be assumed to contain Ash's captured pokémon. Ash came up beside her to help as much as he could.

Serena, soon, saw what she was trying to find – a room with the name C.P. At the bottom of the map, its full form was written – Captured Pokémon. She quickly memorized the route, as well as inputted it in her guidebook; she had kept it just in case they would need it. She didn't intend to use it until it was really needed, in case she forgot the route or wanted to contact someone; Clemont had upgraded the guidebook for the time being to be used as a calling tablet, for he hadn't gotten enough time to make some more Holo Casters.

"Here, Ash," She said, handing over the guidebook to him. "I have entered the route we have got to follow. Keep it with you in case you forget the path."

"Okay, thanks!" Ash said and pocketed the guidebook. "Let's get going now."

The two started running down the path with Serena in the lead.

Half an hour later, Serena slowed down as Ash caught up to her.

"Wait a second, Serena." Ash said, stopping at another junction – this time, crossroads.

"What happened?" Serena asked curiously.

"I have got something to do." Ash stated, turning to their left. "We will separate here right now."

"What?!" Serena couldn't believe what she heard. "What is this something you have got to do that you need us to separate? Don't you think that would be dangerous?"

"It _will_ be dangerous. That's why we need to separate." Ash said. "You go ahead and try to find Pikachu and the others. I will catch up to you later."

He started running towards a dimly-lit corridor. "And in case, we don't happen to meet somewhere here, we will meet in the same room from where we escaped before."

The darkness engulfed him as soon as he finished his sentence. There was complete silence as Serena pondered what to do. She finally decided to go along with Ash's decision and continued running on her memorized path.

 _I will try to find Pikachu and the others._ She thought to herself with determination. _I will find them even if it means death._

* * *

 _That Mewtwo room must be at the end of this corridor._ Ash thought. _I distinctly remember this to be the same corridor. I hope I am not wrong._

Ash ran as quickly as he could to cover up maximum distance in minimum time. He soon saw the door at the end of the passage and slowed down considerably. He tiptoed up to the door and pushed it open slightly. The sight inside the room made him sigh in relief.

 _Good! There's no one here!_ He thought, walking in. _I wanted to see if I could do something for Mewtwo. Serena is dependable enough. I know she will be able to find Pikachu and help escape them. All I need is to find a way to get Mewtwo out of here._

He went up to the fluid-filled cylinder that Mewtwo was in and stared at the tube for a while. The fluid had a blue hue to it. By the looks of it, Ash felt that the liquid was the reason Mewtwo was out cold in the first place – as if the liquid was preventing him from waking up.

The tube itself was quite narrow – just enough to keep Mewtwo inside it. There was no extra space to jump in and pull the psychic-type out – unless you were a small kid like Bonnie or Max. Ash could easily imagine the two jumping in and still having enough space to be able to move freely.

 _Well, this means we won't be able to pull out Mewtwo without Max or Bonnie to help. Those two are small enough to be able to go in there and push Mewtwo out._ Ash thought. He went up to the glass and tapped it again. Once again, there was no noise. _This glass seems too strong for us to break it. If breaking it is going to waste our time, it is no use coming here all the way. As much as I hate to admit, I guess we will need the two kids to help us here._

He turned to look at the many computer screens and saw that many of them were still running. He went up to each one to see if he could do or see something that would be of help. But all he saw was the screens riddled with numbers, moving up and down on their own. He didn't understand one bit and not wanting to waste any more time, gave up.

He looked around to see if there was anything else in the room – a hidden door or a surveillance camera or anything. There didn't seem to be any camera in the room as far as he could tell.

 _It's strange._ He thought. _I thought there would be more cameras in this room than the corridors. But there isn't even one… Or maybe there's a hidden one?_

With that thought, he ran his eyes over the room again, looking closely in the dark corners. He didn't see any camera at all. It was as if the Rockets thought that no one could find that particular room.

 _What should I do now?_ Ash thought, once again turning to stare at the unconscious Mewtwo. _Guess I will have to leave for now. There's nothing I can do yet._

He looked at the ceiling where the tube with Mewtwo inside was attached. The top part of the cylinder seemed fake – as if it was actually a lid. He then stared at the bottom of the tube. There didn't seem to be anything there.

 _I wonder if there's another room above this._ He thought, once again looking up. _If there is, it must be either underground or directly inside the HQ. I need to find a way to go there. Then, I can return with Max and Bonnie, and Brock as well. We will be able to pull out Mewtwo together._

With that thought, he once again looked around the room to make sure there wasn't any hidden door, and left to find a way up.

* * *

 _Where did I mess up?_ Serena thought to herself, looking around the room she was in. It was the same room she and Ash had escaped from some hours ago. _Or was this room on the route?_

She had memorized the route, but she couldn't remember if that room was on their way to the room where the pokémon were supposedly captured. It was too bad she didn't have her guidebook with her to ensure the route.

 _What to do now? Should I go back and recheck the map which would be hidden somewhere near an intersection? But it would be a huge waste of time._

The answer to her question was decided when she heard some footsteps coming up behind her – from the passage she had just come through. She panicked and ran up to the closet to hide, but her sudden fright made her trip on her own foot as she fell down suddenly.

She stopped her fall with her hands, but not before making some noise in the process. The footsteps stopped for a moment before they picked up speed. It made her panic even more, as she got up flustered and went right up to the closet. Just as she reached for the handle, a voice froze her on the spot.

"Look what we've got here!" The voice said, as a couple of grunts appeared from the shadows of the dark corridor.

"The same performer we have been trying to find for the last few hours." The other grunt, who was with the first one, said.

"So what should we do?" The first one asked in an unnecessarily loud voice, almost as if wanting to scare the performer who was already frozen with fear. She started wondering if this was her doom.

"Get her of course!" The second one answered, releasing his Raticate. The first one followed suit and released his Rattata. Although the two were normal-types, they were enough to intimidate a girl and let them capture her easily.

"Now, now, don't worry. We won't hurt you at all." One of the grunts said as the other pulled out a rope – apparently, to tie her. Serena kept on backing up until she couldn't anymore due to the wall.

 _Uh-oh. I really, really messed up._ That was the only thought through her mind as the two grunts completely cornered her.

As her last resort, she brought her hand up to her pocket to release Braixen, but the grunt with the rope caught her hand. "Don't do anything reckless, or you might just end up losing your life."

Serena could only watch in fear as the two grunts moved up to tie her. She closed her eyes and braced herself.

"Veon!"

A Moonblast came out of nowhere and hit one of the grunts, sending him flying into the other.

 _What?_ Serena thought, as she looked towards the source of the unexpected attack.

There, on the window, stood a Sylveon with a determined expression on her face. The Sylveon created another Moonblast and fired it at the grunts. The impact sent them flying through the wall, and making a huge hole in it in the process.

 _What's a Sylveon doing here?_ That thought went through her mind at once, before she recognized the Sylveon as the one she had lost as an Eevee.

"Sylveon, is that really you?" Serena asked slowly, as she got up and started walking towards the fairy-type.

"Sylveon!" The Sylveon seemed to recognize her as she nodded and waited for the performer to walk up to her.

Serena couldn't hold herself in anymore and ran the remaining distance. She hugged the fairy-type tightly and just stood there with the pokémon in her arms.

"I am so glad you are alright." She whispered in the pokémon's ear. "Don't worry me like that again."

"Veon." Sylveon hugged her trainer back. She had missed her just as much.

The two stood there just like that for a while, before Serena let go. She knew she couldn't waste any more time for the touching reunion.

"Let's get going. She said, looking at her newly-evolved Sylveon. Sylveon nodded. Before they started though, she quickly scanned the fairy-type to check its new moves. After that, the two left the room and went ahead to find the captured pokémon.

* * *

 _I should have known._ Ash thought. He was looking at the map, to see if there was another room above him or not. _I will have to go to the headquarters, and then, I will need to find my way right above that room. That is the only way I can see – unless I break through the ceiling._

Ash sighed. He knew what he needed to do to make sure there was a way to get Mewtwo out. _I will have to trust Serena to find Pikachu and the others. There is nothing I can do about it._

He clenched his fists tighter and readied himself to infiltrate the headquarters. He left the place and made his way to the exit, somehow managing to remember the route there. Once at the door, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves down as much as possible and then, slowly pushed open the door.

He was greeted by another empty corridor, although this time, it was brightly lit – way more than the passages he had been walking through so far.

 _Good._ He thought. _This must mean I will be able to get into the HQ. But before that, I need to find some way to make sure they don't notice me. I wish a grunt would come walking this way. I guess I will be able to knock him out and get that uniform. Hopefully, that will be a sufficient disguise._

It was just a wish though, that couldn't be fulfilled at such a time. He sighed to himself and went through the door, closing it behind him. As much as he wanted to, he didn't run all the way. Instead, he walked, considering the possibility that there could be a whole bunch of grunts just around the corner.

It took him longer than it would have but he dismissed it as 'better safe than sorry'. He soon came across another door and pushed it open slightly. The door opened, revealing some kind of office. There were many grunts running here and there with different things in their hands. They seemed to be helping some more scientists who were sitting on computer screens, working on something.

The room itself was bare; there wasn't any noticeable decoration. The walls were grey, as if having been stripped off the paint on them. There were only a couple of large windows that provided enough light for working – although they were closed for the time being. The bareness of the room meant Ash couldn't go ahead without being noticed by at least one of them. He would be immediately noticed. The situation made him wonder what he should do.

He looked around the office as far as he could with the restricted view that the slightly open door gave. There didn't seem to be anything within his sight that could help him. He wondered what he should do to continue from here.

Suddenly, a grunt, with some kind of clothes in his hands, turned and started walking towards him. He panicked for a second, thinking that he was seen. He looked behind himself but there was only a straight passage, indicating there was no way he would be able to hide. So, he did what was the second best option in his situation.

He glued himself to the wall right behind the door and waited to be discovered. The door flew open just as he set himself and hit him squarely on his nose. He clamped his mouth shut and was successfully able to avoid making any noise. He didn't move at all, as the grunt threw the clothes in his hands right at his feet and continued on in the passage.

As soon as the grunt disappeared, Ash let out a sigh in relief. The door had already closed – it had some kind of device at its top edge that closed it. Feeling relieved, Ash let his tense muscles relax as he made his way to the thrown clothes. Much to his delight, they were the Rocket uniform that he had been wondering if he could get. He couldn't believe his luck.

His happiness faded out though, as he checked out the clothes carefully.

 _Seems like luck wants to play with me._ He couldn't help but think. _I can't believe this was some old uniform they were about to throw out. I can't wear this. Even if I did, I am pretty sure, they would notice. This is useless._

He threw away the clothes. As soon as he did though, he heard some voices coming his way. At once, he panicked for some time, looking around for a hiding place. He finally noticed a small gap right behind the door. It looked just about enough for him to fit in. He quickly went there and somehow got himself fixed in.

The grunts soon reached the door and for some reason, they didn't notice Ash stuck in the wall. They had brought some kind of large box with them – almost as large as a coffin. Ash wondered what was inside it, as the grunts left the box right there and went inside the office, probably to ask permission or something to bring it in.

With no time to waste to wonder about it, Ash followed his instinct and jumped inside the box, keeping its lid slightly open for some ventilation. He did it at the right time, for the grunts came out as soon as he made himself as comfortable as possible and lifted the box.

For a moment there was no movement, and Ash sharply took a breath, wondering if the grunts had noticed the change of weight. Then, the box moved, as he sighed in relief. Through the small gap he had kept, he looked outside and saw that the box was being lifted by a machine, instead of the grunts themselves. It seemed like they were readying the box to contain something heavy enough that the grunts couldn't lift themselves.

With the machine and Ash inside the box, the grunts took him inside the office and then, through another door, to a dark corridor. On the way, the grunts talked as Ash listened, realizing he could get some clue to where he was going and where Mewtwo could be.

"I wish Mewtwo wasn't so heavy." One of them said.

"So that you could lift him up yourself, eh?"

"Of course not! Do you really think I am that crazy?"

"You are." A third voice said.

"I am not! Why do you think I would risk my life like that?"

Before any of the voices could say anything, a fourth spoke. "By the way, do you know what that liquid is – the one in which Mewtwo has been tranquilized?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You know quite well how much I am interested in chemistry."

There was a silence for a second.

"Well, I don't know – none of us know. All we know is that the fluid can knock out any pokémon, no matter how strong."

"And we have never tested it on humans, so we don't know its effects on us. Not that I am interested to know."

"Now _that_ seems interesting." The fourth spoke again.

There was silence again.

"Don't tell us you want to check out its effects on humans."

"I do. I am really, _really_ interested in that."

"I think we should stay away from you, now that we know your intentions."

"We better. For all we know, that could turn out to be poison for us."

"I doubt that." It was the fourth grunt again. "None of the ingredients is poisonous for us. And I have already studied about them. Although, I don't know about the concoction, I do know that no matter how much or in what proportions you mix them, they can't form any kind of poison."

"Well, if you say that, I guess we can believe it."

"But we still don't know what effects it can have on us. For all we know, it could directly kill us."

"I don't really understand you guys. Why do you always take the negative side of everything? You could simply look on the bright side."

"Only you can see that 'bright side."

There was complete silence after that bit of conversation. It was broken only by the buzzing sound of the machine on which the box was. After another few minutes, they reached outside the HQ altogether. The grunts proceeded to move the machine in front of a tree and leaving it there, went back inside the headquarters.

After waiting for some time to see if there was anyone around, Ash got out of the box and stretched himself, glad to be away from the stuffy interior of the box.

 _I wonder what they were talking about._ He thought. _The fluid must be the one in which Mewtwo is. And it affects pokémon like a sedative, as if specially made for the purpose. Plus, its effects are not known on humans. It also means letting the kids go inside the tube is risky. It seems like this is something Clemont, Gary or Brock can do; it would be better I guess if they checked out this fluid._

He looked around and saw a black circular outline in the ground – apparently, it was a hole. As soon as he saw that, he knew at once that that was the entrance to the tube that held Mewtwo. He went up to it and bent down to get a closer look. There didn't seem to be any handle to open the lid. Knowing how there had been hidden doors and the like inside the headquarters, he took another close look so as to not miss anything that could be a handle or a mechanism to open it.

His persistence was rewarded when he noticed two strands of grass tangled into each other. The longer he stared at it, the more artificial it looked to him. He took hold of it and noticed at once that it was made of some kind of plastic. The texture of the material told him that he was right. He pulled on to it; slowly increasing the effort, to make sure no one inside the room below noticed the increase of the light.

Much to his relief, the lid opened slowly. He pulled it so that there was just a small gap for him to see through. He stared through it and noticed the psychic-type pokémon out cold inside. Figuring out that his job was done, he closed the lid just as slowly to prevent any noise and went into the bushes to think about his next move.

Just as he disappeared in the shrubbery, the grunts from earlier came out again with another robot – this time, it was a crane with some kind of support attached to it at the end of its 'hand'.

Ash glanced through the bushes as the crane came up to the hole he had just seen. One of the grunts opened the hole as another controlled the crane through some kind of remote. The remaining two seemed to keep an eye on their surroundings.

The crane soon pulled out Mewtwo from inside the hole and carefully placed it inside the box that was still there. As much as he didn't want to, Ash couldn't help but be surprised that there was some humanity in them after all, for they placed Mewtwo treating him like a new born baby – as if they thought of him as their teammate; although, the thought that followed in his mind was that they just wanted to use him to achieve their goal of controlling the whole world.

As soon as Mewtwo was placed inside the box, the four grunts disappeared, leaving Ash by himself once again. Ash came out of the bushes, curious about the whole affair. He went right up to the hole and noticed it to be still open.

 _If that's the case,_ he thought. _Then, they must be coming back soon._

He, then, noticed something shining in the grass. He went near it and saw that it was some kind of bluish-colored liquid – much like the one he had seen Mewtwo being kept in. It just confirmed that the place was indeed the place from where Mewtwo could be removed.

He took a small bit of the liquid and rubbed it in between his thumb and index finger. The texture felt like grease – in simple words, it was oily and with an unpleasant smell. He cringed slightly with the horrid smell. He couldn't believe that something with such a nasty smell existed in the world.

Nevertheless, he pulled out a small plastic bag he had found in the knapsack he had used while escaping earlier, and tearing some grass blades with the oily liquid on them, put them inside the bag. He, then, placed it inside his pocket and made a note to himself to show it to Brock, Clemont, or Gary.

Finally, he got up and looked around to see if he could figure out the exact place where he was at the moment. Instead of a building that he had been expecting to see, there was a huge rock in the direction he had come from.

 _Maybe there's a secret door in here as well?_ He asked himself. After a moment of thought, he shrugged. _There's nothing I can do about it yet._

He looked around to see if he could point out some signs that would help him remember the exact location of the place. Much to his chagrin though, the only things he could see were the trees of the forest and the large mountain-like rock behind him.

 _Guess I should climb up this rock and see just where exactly I am._ He thought, walking up to the rock. He put a foot on the rock and pulled it to see if he could get a strong foothold. He got a good grip and started climbing – but not before having a last thought – _I wonder what happened to Serena._

* * *

 _What in the world is that?_ Serena asked herself.

She had come across an empty room with a strange kind of device, while walking around with Sylveon. The device looked like some kind of operation table, but with hundreds of robotic hands sticking out of it. There was also what seemed like a helmet as well as some metal straps on the operation table.

There didn't seem to be anything else in the room other than another exit opposite her. On the top of the exit was a glowing sign that said 'C.P.'.

 _That must be the captured pokémon room we were trying to find._ She thought. _But I wonder of this is some room where pokémon are tested on._

During the thought process, she also ended up thinking about Ash and his well-being. She wondered what the small job was that made him want to separate for a while. She pondered on it while making her way to the opposite door. As soon as she reached the opposite door, she dismissed the thought for the time being.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door an inch and gazed inside. She was greeted by darkness. Wondering what to do about it, she returned Sylveon back, having kept her pokéball with her, and let out Braixen. With a short nod, Braixen lit up the area inside with her flaming torch.

As soon as the vicinity was lit up, Serena's face lit up as well – after all, she got to her goal of finding Pikachu. Pikachu and the rest of Ash's pokémon were right there, enclosed in cylindrical glass cases, out cold but otherwise unharmed.

Serena, on impulse, ran up to the glass containers and peered inside, looking closely for any injuries. There seemed to be none. The glass felt quite strong when she tapped it. She would have simply tried to break it but she was pretty sure there would be some kind of alarm in case the glass breaks. She decided not to take the risk or she would be hunted down even before she had a chance to escape.

She went up to a terminal in the same room that she had noticed some time ago and studied it. After a few minutes of careful studying and deduction, she pressed a single button. At once, the liquids that were around the unconscious pokémon emptied out of the tubes, and soon after that, the glass opened, releasing them.

Serena went up to the fallen pokémon and checked them. She noticed that the liquid they were kept in was oily; she could feel it by simply touching them. Other than that and the pokémon's unconsciousness, she didn't notice anything else wrong. She tried to wake up Pikachu, but was not successful. For some reason though, she just couldn't wake up any of the others either. All of them were still unconscious as if they were drugged with some strong sedative.

With all of them out of commission and none of her pokémon strong enough to lift them up, Serena wondered what to do next. It wasn't like she could just go out and bring the required pokéballs. By the time she was done with that, the pokémon could have been easily moved to some other room – especially if it was found that someone had broken in. Other than that, there was a chance that she could get caught and ruin the chance of escape altogether.

Suddenly, she heard a buzzing sound, nearing the room. She panicked for a while, before trying to calm her nerves by taking some deep breaths. Slowly going up to the door she had just walked through, she opened it an inch and looked outside.

The door opposite her opened just as she looked outside. From the door came a machine with a box kept on it – the machine looked like it was used to transport heavy things. Along with the machine came four grunts with blank expressions on their faces. The box looked quite heavy considering that they didn't even make a move to lift it. Instead, one of them opened the lid, revealing an out-cold Mewtwo.

Mewtwo looked like he had been covered with some kind of bluish liquid, much like Pikachu and the others, Serena noticed. She watched as the grunts lifted the heavy psychic-type legendary with the help of a crane and placed him on the table of the strange machine. Then, they left the room.

Serena let out a sigh in relief. She was glad she wasn't caught yet, but she knew there were cameras hidden in the corridors, indicating she didn't really have much time to spend at a particular place. She turned back inside, momentarily glancing at the still out-cold pokémon, and then looked out again.

The room was now empty – pretty much the same as it had been before, barring the addition of Mewtwo. She had heard the legends of the psychic-type pokémon but had never believed that such a pokémon could exist. Now that she had seen it with her own eyes, she wondered why she hadn't believed when she had first heard of it.

Dismissing the distracting thoughts, she tried waking up Pikachu again. This time, she was successful. Pikachu stirred a little at her touch, and opened his eyes. Seeing the performer seemed to put him at ease as he relaxed his tense muscles and got up shakily. He tried to stand, but his feet gave way and he fell down.

Serena helped him, at once figuring that the liquid had some kind of soothing effects on a pokémon's nerves that relaxed them to such an extent that they looked out-cold to the other pokémon. Although that was what she had assumed, she still wondered about her theory, considering she had seen Pikachu's tense muscles relax as he got up.

There was another thing, other than her current situation, that had been bothering her. It was Ash. She had felt something to be wrong when Ash had not only stopped her from going inside when they had heard about Sylveon, but had also left the place altogether, leaving his pokémon there, to 'come back with a plan'. That part really bothered her, since from her travels with him, she knew he was the kind to act first and think later.

She had been wondering for quite some time about it after they had left the place, before passing out – she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast the day before that one and it had finally taken effect then. When she had woken up, she was in Ash's arms – much to her embarrassment – and he was taking her back to the laboratory.

Now that she had rescued Pikachu and the others, she let her mind wander a little, trying to find a reason why Ash would think first and act later. As she pondered about it, she and Pikachu woke up the rest – who thankfully woke up easily – and left the room, walking down the passages that she had come through.

The eight – Serena, Braixen, Pikachu and the rest of Ash's pokémon – left the place to finally escape out of their prison.

* * *

 **Well, that completes the 22nd chapter. I hope you like it. Don't forget to review!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Welcome back everyone to the 23rd chapter of FTHF!**

 **I am changing my update schedule back to weekly. First-phase submissions of my assignments is done, so I have quite a lot of free time now. Without further delay, let's start with this chapter:**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 23

"Hey! Misty! May! Dawn! Iris!" Bonnie yelled, running towards where the girls were standing – right outside the door of Professor Oak's lab.

"Bonnie!" The girls exclaimed in sync. "You too? And where is Clemont?"

"Oh." Bonnie turned back. "Well, he was right behind me a few minutes ago."

"And I take it you must have run all the way here as soon as you saw us?" Misty asked, figuring out about Clemont.

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders. "Of course."

The girls exchanged knowing glances – they had the same thought going through their minds.

"How come you are all here?" Bonnie asked, as the girls noticed Clemont making his way slowly towards them, a few hundred meters down the path.

"What are _you guys_ doing here?" Iris questioned back.

"Well, one of the grunts told us that we won't be able to do anything by destroying the observatories there. If we wanted to stop the plan, we would need to destroy the headquarters." Bonnie replied. "I don't know why he called it impossible though."

The girls exchanged knowing glances again, exasperating Bonnie.

"Why are you exchanging glances like that? Tell me already what you are doing here." She complained, pouting at the end.

"Well," May started as Clemont finally reached up to them. "The grunts we came across told us the same thing. If what they say is true, we would need to come here."

"And the fact that this time it is the headquarters we are going to break in," Dawn said, "all of us would have to come. There are bound to be hundreds, if not thousands, of grunts in there."

"Where is Ash? And Serena? I don't see Brock or Gary either." Bonnie said, looking around them and in the backyard of the lab.

"They haven't yet returned." Misty replied, concerned.

Just as she said that, Brock and Gary appeared around the curve at the end of the road. The two had met on their way here and were walking together, discussing the events that had transpired in front of them.

They noticed the group standing there and were surprised to see them back so soon. Stopping their discussion for the moment, they went up to them, wondering what had happened where they had gone.

They went inside talking about each of the events that had occurred wherever the particular team had gone. Although the others didn't, Max did notice the strange silence in the whole building as they made their way to the living room. Apart from their presence, he couldn't hear anything – neither the tinkering he would hear when Professor Oak was at work, nor the clinking of the dishes that Delia would be washing at a time like that – it was past noon after all. It made him wonder if they had gone back to Ash's home for some short work; he doubted his assumption though. He decided to wait for some time before voicing his doubts to others.

"Where's Ash anyway? Hasn't he come back yet?" Brock asked the people who had arrived before him and Gary.

Misty shook her head in response. "They haven't returned yet. Then again, they were going to infiltrate the headquarters…"

"What?! Are you kidding me?" Brock burst out, shocking others with his sudden outburst. "Do they even know how many people they are going up against?"

"What do you mean to say?" Cilan asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Is it really that bad?" Iris asked, sounding somewhat concerned.

Jessie, James and Meowth felt apprehensive. Considering that they had been to the headquarters a few times, they had seen the amount of Rocket members going about their chores. Now that their plan included the whole world, there were bound to be even more new recruits like Jake and Sadie. It made them wonder if splitting up to infiltrate the HQ was a wise decision or not.

"I think Brock is right." James slowly said, getting their attention. "I don't think they have any idea just how many grunts they are going to face. And if Ash wants to save his pokémon himself, he is going to need a distraction."

"Forcing that job on Serena is not something Ash would do." Misty said thoughtfully. "That means he is going to be in huge trouble."

"Then let's go." Cilan said.

"You guys go ahead." Brock said, going up to the videophone in the room. "I will just let Officer Jenny know about the progress and catch up with you."

"Sure. Just don't be too late." May said, as they all ran outside.

While running, they decided that a few of them would get to the tree entrance that they had discovered thanks to Serena, whilst the rest would get to the spot that the guys, barring Clemont and James, had seen Giovanni at. Instinctively, the old Rocket trio separated, indicating to others that they would get going to the tree entrance. The others nodded and they separated quickly, wanting to catch up with Ash and Serena.

While the older group members were busy deciding that, Max had pulled Bonnie back and had signaled her to wait for sometime silently. Although unhappy about it, she wondered why he had stopped her and her curiosity made her follow his advice.

A few minutes later, Brock ran outside, closing the door behind him. He didn't notice the two kids standing aside – he was too focused on catching up with others to notice things around him.

As soon as he left, Max sighed. Bonnie, not being able to contain her annoyance as well as curiosity, spoke.

"Now do you mind telling me why you stopped me from following them? I don't want to miss any action." She said, exasperated.

Max looked at her, amazed at her ignorance, and asked, "Didn't you notice?"

"Notice what?"

"You seriously didn't notice how silent the lab has been since we arrived?"

As soon as he said that, Bonnie realized the deadly silence around them. It reminded her of the silence in the observatory they had gone inside a few days ago. Unlike Max who felt concerned, Bonnie felt excited at the prospect of trying to solve a mystery like a detective. For some reason, being a detective fascinated her – almost as if she was supposed to be a detective from the beginning.

"Now that you mention it, the lab had been deadly quiet when we arrived." Bonnie stated. She turned to look at Max. "Is that why you stopped me from going along with them?"

"Well, kind of," Max slowly replied. "I think they will be enough to take care of the grunts. Besides, we won't be really helpful considering we never had to battle anyone seriously. I am rather concerned about what happened to Professor Oak, Delia, and the rest of pokémon that live here. I don't hear any kind of noise. It's-it's just completely silent."

What he said made sense to Bonnie, no matter how much she didn't want to accept it. Max might have had some battle experience considering he had been battling against his father, but she wasn't sure she would have been really helpful to others. The only people she had tried to battle against were Team Rocket and Team Flare. While Team Rocket was never a real challenge, Clemont had done most of the battling against Team Flare. She had only helped through the sidelines. It made her wish that she would grow up quickly and become a trainer so as to not be just a burden to others, especially her brother.

"I guess you are right." She agreed reluctantly.

Max noticed her reluctance. He smiled. "I understand what you are feeling right now."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow at him. Max shook his head. "I had been there at some point in my life. Do you think I hadn't been wishing to be a trainer as soon as possible?"

He didn't need to say anything else. Bonnie already figured out what he would have told. She gave a small smile. "I guess you are right."

"Let's go. I will go check inside. You take the outside." Max said. "You do know where the pokémon were, don't you?"

Bonnie nodded as the two separated. She ran up to the stream that flowed through the backyard near its edge. She knew for a fact that pokémon would be resting around the cool water since it was past noon and the day was hot. Though when she reached there, there was no one around. The whole area was silent, broken only by the sound of flowing water in the stream.

There were quite a lot of trees around her, making the area around her look like a small forest. She decided to look around in the forest to see if she could see something – anything that could tell her what had happened there. She walked inside the clump of trees. Just a few meters inside and she saw quite a sight.

Many branches were broken, and a couple of trees were uprooted. On the remaining trees were scratch marks decorating the trunk. The grass was completely trampled flat, although faint footprints were still visible. The whole part was completely destroyed, as if a battle had occurred there. The forest beyond what she could see also seemed damaged as Bonnie considered the sheer amount of visible destroyed area.

She followed the footprints that were barely noticeable, and soon realized that they went to the lab. She quickly ran up to the lab, knowing that if there was any chance of finding a clue, it would be there. She opened the back door and ran inside, only to bump into Max. Both of them fell down with a thud, rubbing their heads.

"You should have looked where you are going, Bonnie." Max said, noticing her.

"Sorry," Bonnie replied, getting up. She extended her hand out for Max to hold. "It's just that I think that the lab is probably going to have a clue for what happened here – if there's any, that is."

"Well, you are right." Max said, grabbing her hand and helping himself up. "The kitchen and Professor Oak's lab are messed up. It looked like a battle happened there."

"Same with me. A huge part of the forest outside was destroyed. It looked like a battle happened there. Judging from the damage, it seemed like all of the pokémon must have been included."

Max looked thoughtful. He tried to fit the pieces of the puzzle that he had so far found. By the time he did that – along with some assumptions – he knew that they were in for some more trouble.

"I think," he started slowly. "I think we need to go check Ash's home as well. I need to check something."

Bonnie raised an eyebrow at his departing figure. She shrugged and decided to follow him. The two soon reached the house, just as Max's Grovyle stepped out.

"Grovyle!" Max exclaimed, getting the grass-type's attention.

 _What is Grovyle doing here?_ Bonnie asked herself, as she and Max reached Grovyle.

"Did you find anything?" Max asked.

"Gro." Grovyle nodded and lead the way inside.

The door was broken, the two noticed as they went inside, as if it had been blasted off with some kind of explosion. As soon as they stepped inside, they were greeted by a dreadful sight. The whole room was in disarray – rather, damaged – and not just the room. The whole house was turned inside out and all the shelves, drawers, cupboards and the like were broken, as if the burglars had been searching for something.

"What happened here?" Bonnie asked, looking around. "It looks like a storm just passed through here."

"Looks like they had tried to find something." Max said, checking all the ripped out drawers. "Not sure what though."

"Nene!" Dedenne suddenly popped out of its bag, having finished its sleep.

"You are awake, Dedenne?" Bonnie asked, looking at the electric-type.

"Ne?" Dedenne looked confused at the destruction it saw.

Bonnie was distracted from explaining Dedenne when she noticed something at the corner of the ceiling.

"Hey Max, what is that?" She asked, going right up to the corner to take a close look.

"What is what?" Max looked up from his work and turned to her. Following her line of sight, he noticed a small black dot in the corner. Curious, he went nearer and saw that it looked like a black sphere whose one-eighth part was stuck in the corner.

"What do you think it is?" Bonnie asked curiously, turning towards him.

"I don't really know, but it looks like a security camera." Max answered.

He looked around and saw a fallen chair. Taking hold of it, he placed it underneath the black sphere and climbed on it. Now that he could see it up close, he noticed a small antenna and a microphone inside the sphere. He realized at once that it was a bug – a covert listening device that is usually used by spies or in police investigations.

There didn't seem to be any kind of spy camera on it. With that in mind, he jumped down from the chair and called Grovyle.

"Grovyle, use the point of your leaf blade and destroy that sphere." He ordered.

"Gro!" Grovyle followed his trainer's orders, aimed his leaf blade at the ball and jumped. The point hit precisely on the ball and the blade pierced right through it, damaging the device.

"Thanks Grovyle."

"Vyle!"

"What was that?" Bonnie asked, confused by his actions.

"That was a bug." Max replied. Seeing that she didn't understand, he continued. "A bug is a device with which you can eavesdrop on a conversation without actually being at the place where the conversation is going on."

"I see." Bonnie nodded. "But does that mean the whole house has been… bugged?"

Max shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Let's check."

The two went into the next room as Max had a thought. "By the way, do you have your Eevee with you?"

"…"

Bonnie was silent for a while as she realized that she had completely forgotten about her new Eevee. She had left the normal-type with the other pokémon that were at the lab. Ever since Ash's disappearance, she had completely forgotten about taking care of her.

"No." She replied reluctantly. "I forgot about her."

She was worried but she didn't feel like crying. Even if Eevee wasn't with her, she was bound to be with at least one of Ash's pokémon. The thing that worried her more at the moment was disappearance of all of the pokémon at the lab as well as Professor Oak and Delia. If she was able to find out at least one of them, she could ask them about Eevee.

"How could you?" Max asked, shocked. "How could you just forget about your pokémon?"

"Sorry."

"Eevee!"

Hearing the familiar voice, the two quickly turned around. There was Eevee, running towards her at full speed. The normal-type tackled her as the two fell down with a thump. Eevee snuggled herself into Bonnie as Bonnie got up to a sitting position.

"Eevee!" She exclaimed, hugging the pokémon tightly. It was then that she noticed how badly Eevee was trembling. "What happened, Eevee?"

Eevee seemed too scared to do or say anything, as if whatever she had seen was too disturbing for her. Bonnie looked at Max questioningly. Max shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know what had happened, but whatever it was, it had scared the cub quite a lot.

"Do you have an empty pokéball right now?" Bonnie asked, getting up and petting Eevee.

"Nope. I was going to take pokéballs from Professor Oak." Max said. "If you want one, we'll have to go to the lab."

"Let's go then." Bonnie said, as she started running down the path to the lab.

"Wait a second, Bonnie." Max said, trying to stop her, but she was already out of earshot. He stared at her departing figure and sighed.

"Grovyle!" Max turned to see Grovyle standing at the doorway with ten bugs in his hand. It seemed that while he and Bonnie were busy talking, Grovyle had already gone and taken care of all the bugs he could find.

"Great! Thanks, Grovyle!" Max thanked him. He took the bugs out of his hands and stamped them into the ground with his foot. "Let's go after Bonnie. There's nothing else we can do here."

"Gro!"

Max returned Grovyle back to his pokéball and started running towards the lab. On the way there, he thought about their current situation.

 _There's nothing here that could be considered a clue._ He thought, recalling what they had found so far. _Though, it seems like the work of Team Rocket. They know where Ash lives. And they have a reason to go after him and his pokémon. Why would a regular thief try to rob a house in such a small town?_

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like the work of Team Rocket. He wondered if they had kidnapped everyone. By the time, he had already reached the lab. Just as he went inside, he heard Bonnie ordering Dedenne to use thunder shock.

Wondering if there was an intruder, Max ran towards the source, releasing Grovyle on the way. When he reached there, he saw an angry Bonnie and Dedenne staring at the open window in the room. The window itself was burnt black – most likely from Dedenne's thunder shock.

"What happened?" He asked, walking up to her.

Noticing his presence, Bonnie turned back. "One of those Team Rocket idiots was here. He was sitting right on the windowsill. It looked like he was about to run. So, we tried to stop him. He escaped, though."

"Did you figure out why he had come here for?" Max asked, realizing that his assumption was becoming true.

"When we came inside, he had picked up a pokéball from there." She pointed at the corner that was near the window. "There was no other pokéball here, other than the one he had picked up."

As soon as Bonnie had pointed towards the spot, Max had realized that spot to be the place where the heap of Ash's pokéballs was. Now, he was quite sure that he was spot on with what he had assumed.

"I think we are in for a whole lot of trouble, Bonnie." Max said seriously.

His solemn voice got Bonnie's attention. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I think," He started slowly. "I think all of those who were here – they were kidnapped."

* * *

"Ash!"

"Everyone!"

Ash waved as the girls ran up to him. Instead of stopping, all of them - except Misty - jumped on him, taking him by surprise.

"I can't breathe, guys." He managed to squeak out. "Get off me."

The girls followed his advice and got off him. Misty hit him in his head unkindly. "You should really stop being reckless."

"Whatever," Ash mumbled. Fortunately, no one heard him.

"Where's Serena anyway?" May asked looking around.

"She's still inside." Ash replied. "She must have found Pikachu and the others by now."

Dawn raised an eyebrow at him. "Shouldn't you be the one rescuing them?"

"Well, I was going to, but I also wanted to see if there was another secret door or something to get Mewtwo out. So, we separated. She went ahead to find my pokémon. I went the other way to find a way out for Mewtwo. And in that process, I ended up outside."

"So, are you going to go inside again?" Brock asked. He had been patiently listening to what Ash had to say.

"Of course!" Ash answered as if it was obvious. "You don't think I am going to leave them there, do you?"

"Well, no. I just wondered about that since you said Serena had gone to find them."

"Even if she has gone, I will have to." Ash said. He patted his pocket. "I have all of their pokéballs with me; I forgot to hand them over to Serena. Besides, I have still got to find my pokédex."

They all stared at him for a while, making him uncomfortable. Then, Brock finally said, "It doesn't look like you are going to need any help from us, right now."

Ash stared at him, not knowing what to answer. He, then, sighed. "Maybe not now. But later on, I have a feeling I am going to need everyone's help."

"What do you mean?"

"I just feel it in me… if you understand that. Anyway, I must get going."

He started running away from them, but stopped as a thought occurred to him. He turned back towards his friends. "How did you find me guys? Where exactly are we?"

"We are around a couple of miles southwest of Pallet Town." Brock replied. "And we found you with the help of our flying-type pokémon."

Ash nodded and left them to find another way inside the headquarters, which at that time was not visible. Before leaving, he informed them about the location of Mewtwo and what he had observed while checking for an escape route. Then, he left to see if he could find a secret entrance. Considering how many secret doors he had come across, there was bound to be a secret entrance as well. With that thought, Ash followed the wall of the cliff he had climbed up on.

Soon, he was greeted by an astonishing sight. In front of him was what looked like a small one-room house. It was made of wood – or so it seemed as Ash went closer. It was painted like that. Considering the amount of fallen trees around, he wouldn't be surprised if the paint was to camouflage the building. What stood out the most about it, though, was the broken window that was at its side.

Making sure that he stood just out of the range of the window, Ash looked around and sensed the familiarity of the place.

 _Of course, this is the window from where I and Serena escaped!_ Ash realized at once. _Well, I guess I found the entrance I needed._

He went up to the window and peered inside cautiously. It was empty. He couldn't hear any sound coming from inside either. Deciding to go for it, he jumped inside. Having gone through it at least twice, he easily remembered the path to the junction, where he and Serena had separated. He made his way there, and continued ahead.

Soon enough, he came across the room Serena had passed through and noticed Mewtwo kept there on a table. It was a good thing for him that the passage was dark or he would have been spotted easily. He hid and watched as the scientists, who were there, worked on something.

Mewtwo was laid on the table flat and strapped to it with the help of some bands. From where he was, the bands looked like they were made of steel; he couldn't be sure, though. On his head was a helmet with hundreds of wires coming out of it.

The scientists seemed focused on the numbers running over the screens like a never-ending string. From where he was, he couldn't see what the scientists were doing exactly, but he could see that they were collecting some kind of data regarding Mewtwo. It was too bad they were there, or he would have released Mewtwo.

As he looked around the room, he noticed 'C.P.' written above the door he could see in front of him. At once, he knew that that was the room he had been aiming for, right from the start. Right now, though, there was no way he could go there – not with some scientists ready to raise the alarm. He wondered what to do.

He didn't have any way to contact Serena. The Holo Caster that Clemont had made was not with him – and he was pretty sure Serena didn't have it either. There was no other way he knew of. He finally decided to wait to see if the scientists left or not. In the meantime, he decided to plan out what to do next.

* * *

"Finally!" Serena exclaimed as she walked inside the room through which Ash had entered just half an hour ago."We can now get out of here."

The pokémon all cheered. Serena returned Braixen and helped all the pokémon get out through the window – all the captured pokémon were small ones, namely Pikachu, Scraggy, Oshawott, Bulbasaur, Glalie and Snivy. To Serena, it seemed like he wanted to train them as well since it must have been quite a lot of time since the last session.

Dismissing the thoughts for the time being, she crawled out herself and felt glad to be outside, away from the dangerous area.

"Serena?!"

Serena turned towards the voice. "Iris?! And Misty, and May too! What are you all doing here?"

"We should be the ones asking you that!" May exclaimed, running up to the honey-blonde performer. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Serena replied. "But what are _you_ doing here?"

"Misty told us what you were going to do." Dawn said. "Of course, we would come here to help you out, right?"

"Where's Ash anyway?" Iris asked the performer.

"I don't know." Serena replied, slightly worried. "We separated at a junction and he told me to find his pokémon and escape. It seemed like he knew about something that I didn't, or he would have gone himself to find his pokémon."

"Well, if he didn't meet you, he must still be inside." Cilan said thoughtfully. "He said he wanted to go and help you rescue his pokémon."

"What?!" Serena as well as his pokémon exclaimed. "He met you?!"

"Yeah," Brock said. "He seemed really concerned regarding everyone's safety."

"And Jessie, James and Meowth must be inside as well." Misty said.

"That's right. That means there are four people unaccounted for – Jessie, James, Mewoth and Ash." Brock counted off on his hand. "We have to find a way to reach them."

"We can reach those three because James still has his Holo Caster with him." Clemont stated. "We just have to find a way to contact Ash."

Serena suddenly noticed something in the group. "Where are the kids, guys? Didn't Max and Bonnie come with you?"

"What?!" The group exclaimed – Clemont and May horrified. They looked around frantically. "Weren't they with us?"

"Guys!" They suddenly heard a yell, and turned towards the familiar voice. There were the two kids running towards them.

"Max, Bonnie, don't scare us like that." May said relieved, as the two ran up to them.

"This is no time to be relieved." Max said urgently. His urgent voice gained their attention.

"What happened?"

"There was no one at the lab when we arrived." Bonnie said, coming up behind Max. "And we think that the culprit is Team Rocket."

"What?!"

"Do you mean to say Delia and Professor Oak weren't there when we got back from our missions?" Cilan asked.

Max nodded. "And we found bugs throughout Ash's house."

"What bugs?" Misty asked uncomfortably, just for a moment. The news of their hosts' disappearance was still on her mind.

"He means those secret listening devices." Bonnie replied, drawing shocked expressions on their friends' faces again.

"You mean the whole house was bugged?" Clemont asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Max said. "I guess Jake or Sadie might have done that job."

"Where are they anyway?" Serena asked.

"I did meet Sadie when I was in Hoenn." May stated. "She didn't seem to be hostile. In fact, she helped us get rid of the observatory."

"That makes it hard to believe that they are a part of Team Rocket." Brock said.

" _Were._ " Dawn corrected. "Well, same happened with us. We came across Jake and he helped us."

"Where are those two anyway?" Iris asked.

"I don't know." May replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I didn't bother keeping an eye on her. If she is going to help us, she will probably do it in her way."

"Jake said he had some work to do." Dawn answered. "He didn't go into details though."

"We still got to find them though." Brock said. "They are the ones who can best tell us what happened to Delia and Professor Oak."

"I don't think we would need their help." Clemont said thoughtfully. "If there's a place where they can be kept captive without gaining anyone's attention, it's got to be inside the headquarters."

"Now that you mention it, I actually did notice a prison area in the map of the underground." Serena stated.

"Well, in that case, two of us should go with Serena inside." Cilan said. "Serena will lead them to the prison she is talking about, and the three of them will separate to find them. Who is going?"

"I will." Brock said at once.

"Don't forget me." Dawn said, before any of the others could voice their opinions.

That decided it. Serena sighed. "So, I guess I have still got to go inside, right?"

"We will need you to help us since only you, from all of us, has wandered there the most." Misty said, slightly sorry for the performer.

Serena sighed again, and then, stretched herself, getting herself ready for the next part of their adventure. "Well, Ash is there inside, so I guess I will take this opportunity to tell him I have got all his pokémon out."

"Pika!"

All of them turned towards the electric mouse, who pointed to himself. "Pikachu!"

"Hey, that's right." Brock said. "Pikachu will be able to find Ash quicker with his sharp nose."

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded, indicating that what Brock said was exactly what he wanted to express to them.

"Alright then." Serena said and picked Pikachu up. "Let's get going."

With that, Serena, Brock and Dawn, with Pikachu in Serena's hands, went back inside through the same window that Serena had used as the exit. As they left, Cilan asked Clemont to come along with him – he had something in his mind that he could discuss only with Clemont.

* * *

"Sadie!"

Sadie turned to see Jake running towards her. He reached her and stopped, panting loudly.

"Did you find it?" Sadie asked.

"Yeah, a whole bunch of it." Jake answered, pointing at his backpack. "The only thing remaining is to flatten then enough for them to be able to mold easily with just a hand."

"That won't really take long." Sadie said, as the two went up to their respective flying-type pokémon. "We just got to take another small detour, and then we can return back."

"Yeah," Jake replied shortly.

Pidgeot and Dragonite took off as soon as the two climbed up on them.

"So where do you intend to go?" Sadie asked. "That is, after all this mess up with Team Rocket."

"Who knows?" Jake said, shrugging his shoulders. "For all we know, we could be identified as fugitives."

"Yeah, that's true as well."

There was silence as the two enjoyed the flight. Soon, Jake spotted what they wanted to see, and ordered Dragonite to land in front of the shop.

As soon as they landed, they went in.

"Yes, how can I help you?" The owner asked, looking up as soon as they entered.

"We would like to flatten these in thin sheets." Jake said, opening his backpack and taking out five heavy blocks of tin. The owner stared at the blocks curiously.

"If it isn't a problem, may I ask why do you need these?" He asked.

"Well, we are going to need them soon, so can you do it as quickly as possible?" Sadie asked.

The owner was quick to notice that they didn't want to share anything with him yet. He decided not to ask anything until they felt comfortable. He turned back to the job at hand.

"How large do you want the sheets to be? And how many?" He asked, staring at the blocks from various angles.

"Around 30-by-30 centimeters," Jake replied. "And thin enough so that anyone can easily bend them in any shape without breaking it. Make as many as possible from these blocks."

"Alright. It is possible." The owner said. "How quickly do you want them ready?"

"As quickly as possible." Sadie said.

"It would take around at least a day." He said, after a bit of thought.

"Well, we don't have that much time." Sadie said thoughtfully.

"What if we helped you?" Jake asked. Sadie didn't look pleased at the amount of work she would have to do but it was necessary for them, so she didn't say anything.

"In maybe, ten to twelve hours." The owner replied, calculating the time. "If you know how to work in a smithy."

"Well, I do know a little bit." Jake replied unsurely. "I am not sure about her though."

"That's fine. Even if you didn't know anything, it would have taken only fifteen hours." He replied.

"Well, it's needed to be done, so I guess we will help you." Jake said, after a moment of thought.

"Alright then." The owner said, getting up. "I will teach you the basics. If we manage to finish the tutorial quickly enough, we might finish in just ten hours."

They went to work. In just an hour, Jake and Sadie managed to get the hang of it, much to the owner's surprise. Soon, the three started working like clockwork. The three worked in silence as hours passed quickly.

The owner finally decided to make small talk. "You two seem like people who work on something only if the circumstances define it. Do you mind telling me why are you doing such hard work?"

The two exchanged glances, wondering what to do. It wasn't like they didn't trust the guy. It was just that they didn't know what would happen if they told him. They certainly weren't interested in mixing with police affairs when they had already given up on Team Rocket and wanted to help a particular group of trainers disperse the organization.

They finally decided to trust the owner and took turns telling him what had happened ever since they had joined Team Rocket. The owner didn't interrupt them at all, listening to every word carefully as they kept on working together. When they finished, the owner kept his mouth shut. The two waited for him to speak.

"I don't think," the owner finally spoke, "that you guys are bad. It is more like you were sidetracked to do all the dirty jobs. Even if you hadn't told me, it was pretty obvious that you were just used by them because they knew you wouldn't betray them, that you would be loyal no matter what happened."

"We still haven't told them that we know of their true intentions." Sadie stated. "I guess it will shock them when they see us fighting against them."

"Yeah," the owner nodded. "And Jake, when you told me that you couldn't remember about your childhood, there are two possibilities about it – either you have got amnesia, or you were brainwashed to join them. Either way, they made sure you didn't remember your love for pokémon."

"I guess." Jake said, unconvinced.

Noting his unconvinced tone, the owner continued, "You will know the truth by asking this boss of yours yourself."

They went about their work with no more words exchanged. After working another hour, they decided to take a break for a few minutes.

"You know what I just realized?" Sadie asked, as she gulped down a whole bottle of water. "We trusted that guy on instinct, much like how those guys trusted us. It is like their trust has rubbed off on us."

"It doesn't really matter." Jake said. "I am just glad he didn't decide to call the police. It is a good thing that he trusted us."

"Come on, back to work, both of you." The owner's voice interrupted their conversation.

The two got up and relieving their tense muscles, went back with him to finish their work, hoping to reach on time to help the group of trainers take down their enemy.

* * *

 **Don't forget to review!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Before we start, I want to thank you all for liking this story so far. This story has gotten a hundred followers and more than 25000 reads! You have no idea how much it motivates me to continue writing. With that, let's continue with this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 24

"So Ash has your guidebook, right?" Brock asked.

"Right." Serena nodded. "Do you have your Holo Caster with you?"

"I do." Dawn replied, pulling out the Holo Caster that Clemont had given her.

"Try calling my guidebook." Serena said. "Clemont did mention he had modified it to work as a calling tablet. Maybe we could contact Ash this way."

"It is worth a try." Dawn said, and proceeded to follow her friend's advice.

The device displayed a list of their friends like a hologram and Dawn tapped Serena's name in it. Since it was Serena's guidebook that Ash had, Dawn thought her name to be the closest possibility for them to contact Ash.

The call was placed and the three kept on walking – with Pikachu on Brock's shoulder – waiting for Ash to pick up. After about a minute, Dawn cut off the call. They exchanged glances and shrugged shoulders. Maybe there was a reason why he couldn't pick up. Regardless, they still were worried about him.

"Dawn, try calling James." Brock said.

Nodding, Dawn placed the call. Right on the second ring, James picked up.

"What is it?" He asked. Jessie and Meowth were standing right behind him.

"All of Ash's pokémon are safe." Serena said. "You guys can leave the maze of passages."

"I wish we could." Meowth said.

"Why? What happened?" Brock asked.

"Because WE ARE FREAKING LOST!"

"Seriously?" Dawn asked, cocking her head a little. "I thought you would know your way around."

"Of course we wouldn't." Jessie snapped at once. "We already told you we know nothing of the new headquarters."

"What do we do to find that map that you talked about, Serena?" James asked.

Serena sighed and quickly explained them what to do and how to read the map. In a few minutes, she was finished.

"That's great! Thanks." James said.

Before Serena could warn them about a few things, Meowth abruptly cut off the call. They stared at the blank screen for a while, and then shrugged. Those three could take care of themselves. Right now, they wanted to find Delia and Professor Oak.

"Pika!"

Pikachu suddenly jumped down from his perch, sniffing the air. It seemed like he had picked up Ash's scent.

"Do you smell Ash nearby?" Brock asked. Pikachu nodded.

"Well then, I will go with Pikachu." Serena volunteered at once. The other two nodded.

"Before you leave though," Dawn said. "Tell us how and where to find the map if we need it."

"Alright."

Since they were at a junction, Serena quickly showed them how to find the way to open the map. After the short tutorial, Serena nodded at Pikachu and the two left, leaving Dawn and Brock staring after them.

"You know what that means, right?" Dawn asked, glancing sideways at Brock.

Brock shrugged. "It's up to her to decide when she wants to confess. We can't force her."

"Well, I can't help being jealous." Dawn pouted. "She already knows who she wants to spend the rest of her life with."

"It's not like you don't have someone either." Brock said with a sly grin. "What about Kenny?"

"As if!" Dawn said, feeling embarrassed at being matched with her childhood friend. It wasn't like she hated him, but she didn't like him like that either – at least, that was what she thought.

Brock glanced at her, and then shrugged. "Let's get going. We still have some work to do."

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

"Don't let him escape!"

Ash heard the shout behind him as he ran. The guidebook he had borrowed from Serena had suddenly started ringing loudly, not only shocking him, but also the scientists beyond the door. The shock had faded away just as quickly, as Ash ran away from the room. Unfortunately for him, the scientists spotted him and raised the alarm. Now, hundreds of grunts were chasing him up and down the passages as he, avoiding as many as possible, made his way towards the exit.

He wasn't successful though, as a pair of grunts appeared in front of him and released their Mightyenas. Ash released his Infernape, and with a quick yet strong flamethrower, took the opportunity to run away. He knew if he started fighting against each and every grunt he came across, he would just be wasting time.

Infernape followed, the flame on his head lighting their way ahead. They ran as fast as possible, making their way through the now-full corridors. Every few minutes, a grunt would spot them and they would make quick work of him. It wouldn't be long until they ran out of stamina though – and they both knew the fact very well.

As he turned round another corner, he noticed a pair of figures walking ahead of him.

"Infernape, get ready." He said, as Infernape took a deep breath, ready to shoot another flamethrower.

As soon as they were close enough, Ash yelled, "Now!"

His yell attracted the attention of the two figures and they turned back, giving Ash a shock. It was Dawn and Brock. It was too late for Infernape to stop now, so Ash did the next likely thing to stop the flames from engulfing his friends – he stepped in front of the flamethrower.

Dawn and Brock looked on in shock as Ash got fried to a crisp. Infernape stopped his attack as soon as he noticed his trainer in front of him. He looked apologetic as Ash coughed out some smoke.

"Whoa, I had missed this feeling!" Ash muttered, as he tried to dust his clothes in vain.

"Ash, are you okay?" Dawn asked, helping him up.

"Yeah. This was nothing. Charizard burns me even worse." Ash replied.

"What are you doing here?" Brock asked, watching Infernape apologizing to Ash.

"Trying to escape from the grunts." Ash replied, after forgiving his fire-type pokémon. "Serena's guidebook suddenly rang loudly, giving away my location."

Hearing his explanation, Dawn sweat-dropped and gave an awkward smile. She knew the reason why the guidebook had rung.

"What are you two doing here?" Ash asked, looking at them.

"We came here with Serena and Pikachu." Dawn replied after a moment of hesitation. She didn't know how he would react if he found the two people closest to him were kidnapped by Team Rocket.

"You did? That's great." Ash said, relieved. "I am glad Pikachu and everyone is safe."

Dawn and Brock looked at him, wondering how he would take the next bit of information.

"By the way, where's Serena?" Ash suddenly asked, noticing the honey-blonde's absence.

"She and Pikachu went to find you as soon as Pikachu picked up your smell." Brock said.

"Well, this isn't good." Ash said, after a bit. "All the passages are swarming with those grunts now. They are after me, thanks to the sudden ringing of that guidebook. We need to find them, and then get out of here."

"Uh… we can't get out of here easily, Ash." Dawn said uncertainly.

"What do you mean?" Ash raised an eyebrow at her statement.

"It seems like these Team Rocket guys have got Delia and Professor Oak with them."

"…"

"WHAT?! What are you talking about?" Ash asked furiously, his fury directed at Team Rocket.

"When all of us met up at the lab, we noticed that the whole lab was empty." Dawn said, recalling what Max and Bonnie had told them. "And what was more; they had completely ruined your house. Bonnie found one of those guys stealing a pokéball from the lab – I think it was your pokéball. There was no pokémon at the lab either."

Ash looked at the floor, the fringe of his hair shadowing his eyes. He clenched his fists tighter.

"They are going to regret it." He said in an eerily calm voice – a voice that sent shivers down their spines. "Let's go."

He turned and retraced his steps back, as Dawn and Brock looked after him. They had never seen him so angry, having gotten a glance at his rage-filled eyes. They glanced at each other and started following him, hoping that they wouldn't end up in any more trouble.

* * *

"You know what, something doesn't make sense." James said, thoughtfully.

"What?" Jessie asked, coming up beside him.

"It seemed too easy for Serena to not only find those pokémon, but also escape without any grunt finding her. It has not been even a day. It must have gone too smoothly."

"Well, it is good, isn't it?" Meowth asked.

"Not really." James replied. "It seems like they intended to let those pokémon escape. As if they were done with whatever they wanted to try on them."

"Do you really think they would let such strong pokémon go?" Jessie asked, raising an eyebrow at his speculation.

"I am not sure." James replied. "But think about it, we did see how all the pokémon's attacks were being controlled while fighting them. You must have noticed them when you had gone to take care of the observatories in Sinnoh and Hoenn, right?"

The two nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"If they can control the pokémon attacks, there's a huge possibility that they can control the pokémon themselves as well. I doubt they would take any risk regarding that. What do you think – would they?"

"I don't know." Mewoth said, after a bit of thought. "But what you said makes sense."

"It almost seems like they are letting them have fun for the last moments of their life – and that because they know they will be able to control them." Jessie said.

The three exchanged glances. They knew they were in for a huge battle. Even if the evil organization took over the world, there could be still a small possibility that the group of trainers could take them down.

The three nodded – they knew what they wanted to find.

* * *

"Wait Pikachu!" Serena whispered suddenly.

"Pika." Pikachu stopped at once.

The two of them had heard footsteps nearing them and had stopped, wondering what was going on. They could also hear the murmur of voices just around the next corner, but the murmur was too low in volume for them to hear clearly.

A few moments after they stopped, the murmur increased to an audible level, as the two listened carefully.

"Make sure he doesn't escape." One of the voices said.

"He is just being such a pain. I wish he wouldn't just manage to escape." Another talked.

"Stop talking both of you!" A third voice yelled. "We need to find and nail him down. After that, we can decide what to do with him."

"Yes sir!"

Serena and Pikachu cautiously peered around the corner and noticed a whole lot of grunts swarming in and out of the many branches throughout the main corridor. It was obvious to them that they were talking about Ash. Both of them wondered what Ash did this time to get their attention. It was also apparent to see that the grunts were out to find him and kill him.

"Pikachu, do you still smell him?" Serena whispered, glancing briefly at Pikachu.

"Pika!" The electric-type nodded. He could smell his trainer's scent and could feel it getting stronger. Maybe he was just around the corner. The possibility filled the yellow mouse with hope.

The two unanimously decided to wait some more to see what unfolded there.

"Everyone, we've got another intruder here!" A voice yelled right behind them, freezing the two on their spot.

The two slowly turned to see another grunt standing behind them with his Mightyena. His voice was loud enough to carry over to the other grunts that were just around the corner.

Knowing that they were in serious trouble, Pikachu fired a quick but strong thunderbolt at the grunt and his menacing pokémon. It wasn't enough to knock them out, but was enough to put them both in a daze. Quickly taking the opportunity, Pikachu motioned to Serena to follow him and ran ahead. The electric attack brought Serena out of her motionless state, as she followed the mouse.

"There she is!" Just as she and Pikachu reached the end of that passage, a few grunts noticed them.

"Go catch her! We'll keep her hostage along with the other two." Another grunt said, as the group of five came after them.

Knowing that she could get in a deep trouble, Serena quickly released all three of her pokémon. "Everyone, help Pikachu keep those grunts away. I won't be able to order an attack so use any attack you want."

"Braixen!"

"Cham Pancham!"

"Veon!"

All three of her pokémon shouted their affirmation and quickly launched an attack together, covering the passage behind them in smoke.

"Good job, everyone!" Serena said. Her pokémon smiled at her.

"Pika?"

Pikachu looked confused at the Sylveon's appearance. He didn't recall when Serena had caught one, so it was a surprise to him. Pancham too looked surprised. Seeing their surprised expressions, Braixen explained to them what had happened. As soon as she finished, the two small pokémon smiled welcoming smiles at the Sylveon. Sylveon smiled back.

"Pancham, use Dark Pulse!" Serena' voice suddenly interrupted them.

Pancham followed his trainer's orders instinctively as soon as she said that, and fired a dark pulse at the approaching grunt. The passage quickly filled with smoke from the explosion.

"Guys, keep on following me and don't stop! We'll get out of this!" Serena yelled, plunging into the black smoke. The pokémon followed suit, readying themselves to attack any enemy standing before them.

The process continued for quite a while, with one of the pokémon firing an attack at the approaching grunts – either from the front or behind – as they kept on running and following Serena, who knew where she had to go.

She turned around another corner and suddenly bumped into someone unexpectedly. She opened an eye, ready to order an attack, but she stopped when she saw the person she had bumped into.

"Ash?!"

Ash was rubbing his head when she called him. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see her. "Serena? And Pikachu!"

"Pikapi!"

Pikachu jumped on Ash and Ash caught him. The two hugged each other, glad to see each other safe. Serena and the other smiled at the reunion between the trainer and his partner.

"Ash!"

Serena looked up and to her relief, saw Brock and Dawn running towards them.

"So you found him, Pikachu?" Dawn asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed, with a huge smile on his face.

"Found you!"

The sinister voice pulled them out of their happy reunion, as a Mightyena jumped on Serena, pinning her down. They looked on horrified, as a grunt appeared. "Nobody move, or I will snap that girl's throat!"

As if to show that he was serious, Mightyena opened his snout and brought his sharp, deadly fangs right up to Serena's neck. Serena didn't even dare to quiver fearing that she might just speed up her death.

Looking at the grunt's eyes, it was quite easy to see that he wasn't joking. Ash hardened his gaze. "What do you want?"

"Just step out of our way." The grunt calmly replied. "I don't want to get my hands dirty without reason. Just step out of our way, and we won't do anything."

"Do you really think I am going to let you do whatever you want as easily as that?"

"I know you won't. That's exactly why I am forcing you to stop delaying us any more than you already have."

Meanwhile, as Ash and the grunt talked, Brock caught Serena's glance and signaled her secretly to take Mightyena by surprise. Serena picked up on what Brock wanted her to do, but she didn't know what to do. Since the Mightyena had an eye on her movements, any unnecessary action could mean her death.

She looked back up and this time caught Ash's eye as well. While talking with the grunt, he was also keeping an eye on Serena. Ash gave a slight nod, indicating she should trust them. Serena had her mind in turmoil, as she weighed her options. Finally trusting them, she decided to go for it.

With a sudden movement, she kicked the dark-type pokémon that was pinning her down in its stomach. Thanks to the restrictions, the kick wasn't as strong as she wanted it to be, but it was more than enough for the distraction that her friends had been waiting for.

Braixen quickly fired a Flamethrower. Pancham's Dark Pulse, Sylveon's Fairy Wind and Pikachu's Thunderbolt soon followed, attacking the Mightyena together, knocking it out in an instant. Serena's sudden movement took the grunt by surprise as well, as he tried to wrap his head around what had happened in that instant.

The slight moment of hesitation of the grunt was enough for Dawn to run up to Serena and pull her away from the danger. Serena breathed a sigh of relief as soon as she was near her friends.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, concerned.

"Yeah," Serena replied shakily. Wordlessly, Brock checked her neck for any injuries, but there were none.

 _These guys are getting really desperate._ Brock thought. _They have started taking drastic measures against us._

The grunt, angry at being beaten down, pulled out another pokéball. He looked ready to strike, as he raised his arm to throw it. He was about to throw it when a buzz sounded loudly in the passage. The grunt pressed a button on the earplug – the trainers noticed – he had been wearing in his left ear and listened. After a few seconds, he grunted and sighed. Giving them a final fleeting glance, he left the trainers and their pokémon.

"What just happened?" Serena asked to no one in particular, unable to comprehend that they were left alone just like that.

"Must have been some kind of call." Brock observed. After a moment, he continued, "Let's go. We still have got to find Professor Oak and Delia."

"Yeah, let's go." Ash said, striding ahead of the others. "I want to teach them a lesson."

* * *

"So, this is the hole that Ash was talking about?" Trip asked.

"Looks like it." Max said, looking down inside the tube. He had heard from the others what had happened so far and had proposed to others to go and check it out. Right now, they were standing in front of the hole that Ash had told them about.

"Mewtwo isn't in there though." Bonnie said, noticing the empty tube. "Have they taken him out already?"

"No," Gary said. "From what Ash told us, they were soon going to be back to put him in."

"Well, I guess then, we should hide." Iris said. "The greenery around us is enough to conceal ourselves easily."

"Yeah, I have a feeling they will be back soon." May said, looking behind her as if the grunts would be right there.

Max put the lid just as it was and got up. "Let's hide ourselves."

"By the way, where did Clemont and Cilan go?" Bonnie asked, as they started walking towards the bushes.

"Cilan wanted to talk about something to Clemont." Gary replied. "I don't know where they went, but they said they would be around."

Before they could talk anything more, they heard a buzz, getting louder and louder. Without another word, they quickly jumped inside the bushes and hid themselves as well as they could. All of them kept an eye out to see what was about to happen.

A door suddenly opened in the rock and four grunts appeared with a box kept on a machine, and a crane. They went up to the hole and opened the box. With the help of the crane they quickly lowered the psychic-type inside the tube, and then closed the lid. After that, just as wordlessly as they arrived, they left through the same door in the rock and disappeared.

The trainers exchanged glances, wondering what they had just seen. After a few minutes, when nothing else happened, Max whispered, "Should we try to get Mewtwo out of there?"

"I don't think so." Gary said. "There were wires inside that tube, so that tube probably opens up in a research room. It's better not to take the risk until we create a diversion."

"So what until then?" Iris asked.

"Try contacting Dawn or Brock or Serena." Gary said. "We can ask them to create a diversion so we can easily pull Mewtwo out."

"Wait, aren't Jessie, James and Meowth inside too?" May asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, tell them as well." Paul said. He hadn't said a word, because he didn't think it was necessary. But now, this waiting and watching had started to get on his nerves. He was craving for some kind of battle. "Once they create this diversion, some of us can attack from behind as well. We can easily corner them between us."

"It won't be that easy." Misty said. "There are bound to be hundreds of corridors in there. To make sure none of them is used to escape – it seems farfetched."

"It's worth a try though." Gary said thoughtfully. "As long as those seven inside there, along with their pokémon, manage to take out as many grunts as possible."

"Which seven?" Bonnie asked. She didn't know how many or where everyone had separated. "And where exactly is everyone?"

"See, it's like this." Gary started. "Jessie, James and Meowth, and Ash, Serena, Dawn and Brock – those seven are inside the headquarters. Delia and Professor Oak as well are inside, but captive. Jake and Sadie aren't with us right now, but we don't know their true intentions yet, so we have got to find them. Cilan and Clemont just left for something so they will be back soon. And Me, Misty, May, Iris, Trip, Paul, Max, and you, Bonnie, all of us are here. Do you want to ask about anyone else?"

"Nope. I understood."

"Great." Gary, then, turned towards May. "Did you try calling Dawn?"

"Yeah, I did." May replied. "By now, they must have already started wrecking havoc inside."

"And I managed to contact James." Misty added. "They seemed reluctant, but they agreed."

"Great. So now, we've just got to wait for some time. After that we'll get to work." Gary said.

"What work exactly?" Iris asked.

"Well, Max, Bonnie, Me, and either Cilan or Clemont will stay back to pull Mewtwo out." Gary stated. "The rest of you are going to go inside and help those seven wreck the headquarters."

Everyone nodded. They were looking forward to their jobs.

* * *

"All done!" Sadie said, relieved that the work was over. She and Jake had been working hard, along with the tinsmith. Twelve hours had passed since they had started their work on creating thin metal sheets and now they were done with the last of the sheets. They were careful not to apply too much pressure while handling them since they were easily bendable.

Now that they were finally done with their work, she sighed in relief, glad to have finished it in time.

"It's amazing how easily you picked up the art." The tinsmith said. "Normally, it takes around a month to pick up the forging part and all. You could start a business right now!"

Jake and Sadie smiled as they gulped down a whole bottle of water each.

"I don't think I want to work in that heat anymore than I already have." Jake replied, exhaling loudly.

Sadie got up and stretched. "Let's get going. We still have to go to Kanto."

The shop-owner raised an eyebrow at them. "You came to Hoenn just to get some sheets built?"

"We _were_ in Hoenn when we came here." Sadie corrected him. "We still have got to go to Kanto, which was our original destination."

The owner shrugged. "Well, good luck for whatever you are going to do from here on."

"Thanks." The two nodded and smiled. They left the hot smithy and released their pokémon. Quickly climbing up on them, they left the place and started flying towards Kanto.

"Will that many be fine?" Jake asked, glancing at Sadie.

"They should be." Sadie replied. "We have more than 200 sheets. That must be more than the total pokémon they have."

"Have you counted ours as well?"

"Ours included. You don't really need to worry."

"I guess." Jake looked back ahead. Some things were bothering him, but he didn't say anything. He decided to focus on their main job.

* * *

"Professor Oak, are you okay?"

Professor Oak opened his eyes slowly and looked up. In front of him, chained to the wall, sat Delia. She looked at him with concern.

Seeing her concerned look, the professor gave her a watery smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little sore. That's all."

He looked around. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." Delia replied, a little concerned. "All I know is Team Rocket has captured us."

"What?!" Professor Oak couldn't believe it. "Do you know what happened?"

"You were attacked from behind." Delia replied. "So, you don't know what happened. I walked in right when one of them attacked you. They didn't give me or Mimey a chance to do anything. By the time I regained consciousness, we were here."

Professor Oak was silent. Delia didn't say anything. Their situation looked hopeless.

"Did you find him?" A voice suddenly asked, gaining their attention.

They turned towards the door, outside which there seemed to be some kind of commotion. They could hear footsteps running here and there clearly as they strained their ears subconsciously to figure out what was going on.

"No!" Another voice shouted back. "But there are some more intruders!"

"What?! Who are they?"

"They seem like his associates!" A third replied. "Seven of them have infiltrated inside."

"We still haven't found their identities!" A fourth voice shouted from somewhere far away. "But they must be some of the trainers from that list those two newbies sent us!"

"Quick! Find them and finish them as quickly as possible!" The first voice ordered again. "Don't leave any evidence behind!"

The commotion receded after that order until there was complete silence in the passage outside. Delia and Professor Oak glanced at each other.

"What do you make of that?" Professor Oak asked.

Delia would have shrugged her shoulders if she could. Instead, she shook her head. "But from what they talked about and what we know so far, it seems like they are after Ash."

Her voice cracked a bit as she said that. She never wanted all of this to happen, but as it was, she couldn't do anything about it. If she had the power to travel through time, she would have just gone to the past and finished off Team Rocket before it was ever formed – not that she believed it would have been easy either _if_ it was possible.

Professor Oak seemed to have picked up on her anxiety. He sighed. "And if it is Ash, we just burdened him by getting captured."

Delia felt tears pricking her eyes at the thought of what would happen if Ash got captured. She shook her head to get those thoughts out of her mind and tried to focus on their problem. "We've got to find a way out of here."

"And just how do you expect to do that?" A familiar voice suddenly said, angering the two prisoners.

"What do you want from us?" Delia spat out the question, barely being able to contain her anger. She was normally a calm lady but the recent events had her mind jumbled. The fact that stood out to her was that Ash was their target, and she wanted to make sure he would remain safe, no matter what.

"Now, now, don't be so angry." The voice said with mock sadness, as the voice's owner – Giovanni – appeared in front of them.

"What do you want really?" Professor Oak asked. "It's not like you can get much if you control the world."

Giovanni sent him a hateful look that made Professor Oak wish he hadn't added the last part.

"It's not like you know anything about it." Giovanni snapped at him. "Have you ever wondered what power you would gain by that?"

 _Power._ Professor Oak thought, rolling his eyes. _That is just about the only thing such villains are after. I wonder why I even asked him. What do they gain by obtaining such power? It's no use if everyone is afraid of you all the time._

Giovanni smirked when Professor Oak didn't say anything. "There's more to this than you can ever understand."

Professor Oak raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what he exactly meant by that.

"What do you mean? And what has it got to do with Ash?" Delia asked, voicing his questions.

Giovanni shook his head. "I am not the usual villain who will tell you all about my plans and give the 'hero' enough time to come here and beat me up."

He walked up to Professor Oak slowly. Bending right up to the professor's level, Giovanni sighed. "Have you heard of Arceus – the pokémon that is supposed to have created the world as it is now?"

Professor Oak's eyes widened at his question. He had always been curious about the legendary pokémon and had always wanted to know more about it up close. And here he was, captured by an enemy, and the enemy was asking him about something he had wanted to know for years.

Giovanni noticed his eyes widen. He gave another arrogant smirk. "You see, we just found out something interesting while excavating right here." He pointed towards the ground. "While making space for hiding the headquarters, we found a strange stone tablet. On it was written something regarding Arceus. We are yet to decipher it completely, but from what we have found so far, there are many more tablets all around the world."

He got up and went up to the door, looking away from the two. "If we found them all, there is a possibility that we can find information regarding Arceus' dimension, and," He balled his hand into a fist. "Capture him."

Professor Oak's jaw dropped. _Was there really such evidence regarding the start of the pokémon world?_

"I know you are thinking if this was ever found." Giovanni said again, turning towards him and interrupting his thoughts. "But it's only us who know about it so far. None of your archaeologists have found anything like this. And you know what is even more interesting?"

"What?" Professor Oak couldn't help asking.

Giovanni smirked, as if he knew he would hear that question. "From another small bit of information, we have found that it also contains the answers to all the secrets of this world."

Professor Oak could only let his jaw drop in shock. _So, they were after this the whole time?_

Giovanni started laughing maniacally. "Now, do you have an idea what are we exactly after? We can completely reform the whole universe when we are successful."

"Are you crazy?" Professor Oak asked, shocked. "Do you even know the consequences of what you are going to do?"

"It doesn't matter." Giovanni said. "Because if we are successful in creating another universe, it will also mean we have Arceus under our control."

"And where does Ash tie in?" Delia asked, finally able to speak something. She had been shocked when Giovanni had told them this bit of their plan and could only listen in shock as he talked. Now, though, she wanted to know where Ash tied in with this.

"Oh, about that, ask that brat himself - if you can." Giovanni said with another smirk. He then turned outside. "Get them in my office. We have got to get ready. Another twelve hours – then we can start."

He stepped aside as his subordinates came inside and took hold of them. Giovanni walked ahead and the grunts started walking after him, dragging them across the floor.

"And you know what?" Giovanni asked, glancing behind. "It was pure luck we found that stone tablet. It wouldn't have mattered even if we hadn't found it, for our original goal was taking over the world. If we find something that can help us completely reform the world and remove its bad side, we are bound to use it. No one can stop us."

It seemed like he hadn't noticed the irony of his words – that _he_ himself was the bad side. But neither Professor Oak nor Delia spoke anything, in case he lost his cool. They certainly didn't want to take the risk, considering they saw the anger flitting through his eyes whenever he mentioned Ash.

During the next half an hour, Professor Oak and Delia were pulled through the maze and were brought up to the highest level where Giovanni's office was. Leaving them there, the grunts as well as Giovanni walked back through the door and closed it behind them. The two stared at the closed door.

"What do we do?" Delia asked, clearly referring to their current situation.

"For now, wait." Professor Oak answered. "Let's just try to find a way to unlock these chains."

Delia decided to follow the old professor's advice, as she hoped for Ash and the others to be safe.

* * *

 **And a shocking revelation! With Delia and Professor Oak knowing what exactly the plan is - barring Ash's inclusion in it - what is going to happen now?**

 **Hopefully, this chapter was up to the mark. I had written it in a rush, so I can't be sure there were no mistakes.**

 **But about that Arceus part - it really was _pure luck._ I would have liked to explain this, but there's no need to spoil anything - not yet, anyway. I will just say that there are many, many things regarding this stone tablet plot that are going to be explained in TFM-SA (Sorry, got bored writing it over and over again :P).**

 **Anyway, don't forget to review this chapter!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 25

"What the hell is going on here?" A grunt yelled as another loud explosion shook the passage.

"Those intruders have started rampaging around." Another grunt shouted back. "They are unstoppable!"

"What do you mean unstoppable?" A third asked.

"They are using their strongest pokémon and are attacking everyone who stands in their way with powerful attacks! All of their attacks are knocking our pokémon out in one hit!"

"Let's go stop them!" A fourth voice was heard from around the corner. A grunt soon appeared there and he ran towards them. "They are in 5th division, 2nd passage to the right. It seems they are on their way to the 9th division, where we keep all our prisoners."

"What are they heading there for?" The first one asked, as all four of them started running.

"We have captured a couple of their associates – that brunette and that old man Oak." The second grunt replied. "They must be going for them."

"Don't they know that their friends are not here?" The third grunt asked.

"Of course they don't! That's why they are heading there!"

"Well then, let's go to the headquarters." The first stated. "We'll have most of us inside there as lines of defense against their onslaught. A few can remain here and capture them inside the 9th division, since it is completely separate from the rest of the areas."

"That's a good idea!" The second grunt said, and quickly relayed the plan to everyone in his vicinity through the Holo Caster he had in his pocket.

"We'll confine them in the 9th division." The third grunt said, as they made their way to the 9th division.

* * *

"Infernape, use Flare Blitz!" Ash ordered.

Infernape jumped, covered himself in blue-colored flames and shot at a bunch of grunts like a missile. The whole bunch of grunts – which consisted of a dozen – was thrown back with the sheer force that Infernape casted on them.

"Good job!" Ash said.

He, along with Serena, Dawn and Brock, had gotten May's message and had took her word at its face value. They had started wrecking havoc as they went away from the room where Mewtwo was kept, hoping that they pulled all the grunts away from the room. May had told them what they were planning, so they hoped that this destruction would pull everyone away from the room.

 _I hope they have also thought of a backup plan._ Brock thought, noticing their pokémon's loud panting. _Or this plan might just backfire._

It seemed like Dawn and Serena had picked up on their pokémon's weariness as well, for they glanced at Brock with a look of concern on their faces. Just as Dawn thought of mention this to Ash, they noticed another batch of grunts running towards them.

"Sylveon, use Fairy Wind!" Serena ordered.

Sylveon, not wasting any time on dance moves, pulled her feelers together, and then charged with them, sending a strong gust of wind. The gust was strong enough to knock the grunts off their feet. Taking advantage of the situation, the group charged through, leaving the grunts sprawled on the ground.

"Let's go!" Ash yelled.

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered. If this was how 'strong' the grunts were, they were pretty sure they would be easily able to reach their destination without much fatigue.

 _Something doesn't seem right though._ Brock thought uneasily. _We have been easily able to knock them all out. But Rocket grunts usually are stronger than that. Are we running towards a trap?_

Nevertheless, he didn't say anything and continued running. The four soon saw a T-intersection as they ran towards it.

"Serena!" Ash said, looking at the performer.

Serena nodded. "To the right!"

Following her instruction, the group turned right and was greeted by…

 _An empty passage?!_ Brock thought surprised. _I thought they would try to stop us and there would be even more grunts than we faced. This is really suspicious._

He slowed down his pace, running the gears of his brain. Noticing the change in his pace, the others slowed down as well.

"Is something wrong, Brock?" Ash asked impatiently. Apparently, he hadn't noticed what Brock had.

"Didn't you notice?" Brock asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"What?"

"There are no grunts here!" Dawn said, exasperated at Ash's ignorance.

"So what? Isn't that great?" Ash asked, shrugging. He still hadn't grasped the situation.

"No." Serena said thoughtfully. "I think Brock means to say that there should be more grunts here if Delia and Professor Oak are being kept here. Isn't that right, Brock?"

"Yeah," Brock said thoughtfully. "I think there's a huge possibility that they have already been moved."

"But it's still a possibility, isn't it?" Ash asked. "We won't know for sure unless we go and check."

"I suppose you have got a point there." Dawn said. "But that is quite farfetched. The chances are they are just leading us into a trap."

"And to be caught in a trap right now," Serena said, shaking her head. "That would be completely foolish."

Ash sighed. "I would have liked to check, but I guess that's not possible for the time being. What do you think we should do?"

Just as he asked the question, they heard a buzz coming from the passage they had just come through. The four readied themselves as they waited to see who arrived. The buzz neither reduced in volume nor increased. After a bit, they heard a small clank.

The four exchanged glances and then, slowly started walking towards the source of the noise. They went ahead a bit and were greeted by a horrifying sight. Their escape – the only passage they knew of – was cut off. Instead of the T-intersection, there was just a metal wall.

 _I have a really bad feeling about this._ Ash thought, as he went up to the wall. He noticed that instead of cracks that he had found quite a lot of times when opening hidden doors, the wall was completely smooth – not only the one that blocked off their escape, but also the walls of the passage.

 _I should have known._ Ash thought grimly. He turned towards the others, who had questioning looks on their faces. "Looks like we are stuck here for now."

"What do you mean?" Serena asked. "There's sure to be another escape route out of here – like the hidden ones we have found, right?"

"I doubt that." Ash sighed. "The walls are completely smooth. This wall must be an extra wall that can be controlled from the headquarters – to prevent their prisoners from escaping."

"What have hidden doors and walls got to do with each other?" Dawn asked, confused.

"You see," Ash started, "if you noticed, the walls of the passages are fitted with panels with a small gap in every two of them. Near a hidden door, inside the crack, there's either a small bump, or a smaller crack inside that acts as a switch to open and close the door."

"I see." Dawn nodded.

"But here," Ash said, motioning towards the door that blocked off their escape. "The walls are completely smooth, unlike the panels in the rest of the passages. Even the door itself doesn't have a crack or anything."

"And you mean to say," Serena started slowly, putting the pieces together. "You mean to say that Team Rocket has been keeping an eye on us all the time until now, right? To make sure that we fall into this trap. They must have already closed off other escape routes."

"It's bad." Brock muttered, staring at the wall-like door.

"Can't we just break it down?" Dawn asked.

"Of course we can't!" Ash retorted. "The wall is thicker than the normal walls you had seen. Besides, do you think I would have just been sitting here if I could break this wall?"

"Okay…" Dawn said, dragging out the 'kay'. "Maybe there's another way."

Suddenly, they heard static coming over the intercom that was hidden in all the passages. Soon, the static faded away as a familiar voice spoke.

"I hear you are in quite a situation, Ketchum."

"What is it that you want with me so bad?" Ash asked.

"Well, don't worry!" Giovanni's voice continued, as if he didn't hear Ash. Apparently, it was a one-way intercom. "You are stuck in a hundred-meter long branch of a passage. And at one of its end, I am going to release water that will no doubt fill up the whole corridor."

There was a pause as Giovanni snickered evilly. Dawn and Serena had horrified expressions on their faces. Brock and Ash didn't show it but they were concerned – mostly for the girls' safety.

"And at the other end, where you are standing," he continued, as they suddenly heard a gas leaking into the passage just behind them. "The gas is nothing but sleeping powder. The cameras here are watching you. Let's see what you choose – sleep and drown a peaceful death, or suffocate yourself inside the water to death."

The intercom again buzzed with static, and then died down completely, leaving the four to their own devices.

"Are you… are you kidding me?!" Dawn finally burst out, after a moment of silence. "This is straight murder!"

She sank down on her knees, as did Serena.

"At least, let's move away from the wall for the time being." Brock said shakily. "Or we might just end up going to sleep."

Following his advice, the four slowly walked away from the wall a bit. Their pokémon seemed to have lost all the strength to fight, having let their fatigue take over them. The four returned all their pokémon back to their pokéballs, and sat down.

Brock started analyzing their situation, but couldn't think a way to get out of there. He couldn't believe how dangerous the organization had become – the same organization they would have laughed at if they were told about this a couple of years ago. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way to get out of there.

"Hey, Brock," Ash said calmly, surprising the other three. They wondered how he could remain calm in such a situation. "Do you know someone who might be inside in this maze, right now?"

As soon as he asked that, a light bulb flicked on in the others' heads.

"Of course! Jessie, James and Meowth are still inside!" The three exclaimed together.

"But they are lost!" Dawn continued, earning a sigh from Brock and Serena.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Serena. "Wait, they wouldn't be lost, would they? We told them how to check the map and get out of the maze, right?"

"Yeah, so they must be outside now." Dawn sighed.

"It wouldn't hurt to try." Ash said, after a bit of thought.

"I guess so." Brock said, and pulled out the Holo Caster he had with him. He selected James' name and waited as the ring echoed throughout the corridor. Ten rings later, James picked it up.

The four looked at the hologram, shocked. James looked completely beat up. There was blood running from an injury on his forehead. His clothes were completely torn, revealing his wounded skin. He had a huge injury that stretched across his forearm and quite a lot of blood oozed from it. Even his hair was cut up unevenly. He himself looked dirty with dirt sticking to his face and body.

"What happened, James?" Brock asked, the shock evident in his voice. Being a doctor, he knew that James needed immediate treatment. "Where are you?"

James had been sitting with his back to some wall, panting hard. He slowly looked at them although it was evident he was in pain.

"Don't move, or you will lose even more blood!" Brock yelled at him. Taking his advice, James stopped moving.

"Brock, is that you?" He asked hoarsely.

"Yeah, what happened? Where are you?" Brock asked again. It was evident to him that even speaking was painful for him, but he needed to know where James was, so that he could take care of him quickly.

"Help me, Brock." James continued with his hoarse voice. "They almost… killed us… Jessie and Meowth… are with them… captive… I am… outside. Please… quick!"

As soon as he finished, he crumpled up in a heap, leaving the Holo Caster on. Serena cut off the call. The four exchanged shocked glances.

Ash hit his knee with a fist. "They are crossing the limit now."

"We'll have to get out of here somehow." Dawn stated shakily. Their current situation looked really hopeless.

Ash got up and started walking away from the wall. "Let's get going."

"Where are you going, Ash?" Brock called after him.

"The sleeping powder will reach us soon." He stated, looking back at his companions. "We won't be able to do anything here. If there's a chance of us getting out, it will be at the point where the water is filling."

Nodding, the other three got up and walked up to him.

"And look!" Ash said, pointing ahead of them, as the three came beside him. "The water has already started filling in!"

True to his word, they could see a bit of water, coming up to them.

"Considering the fact that this passage is flat, the water will take quite a lot of time to fill up to the top." Brock said thoughtfully. "So we must have around six hours to find a way out here."

"We can't be sure though, Brock." Dawn said, as they started walking towards the water. "We don't even know just how fast the water is leaking in. Giovanni said this part was a hundred meter long, and yet, in just around ten minutes, the water has already reached the other end. I don't think we have as much as time as we think."

"Anyway, let's keep going." Ash said. "We can't give up without a fight."

"We can't give up _at all_." Serena corrected him. The other three smiled at her conviction.

Soon, they reached the end of the passage, and just like Giovanni had said, there was a wall, blocking their way out. The water was gushing in through the crack at the top of the door that blocked them. The crack was large enough for their hand to fit through horizontally. The speed with which the water poured in was increasing continuously. It had been only fifteen minutes or so, since the water started pouring in, so it hadn't even reached up to their ankles. But the continuous increase in flow left them with no doubt that if they didn't do something soon, they would end up drowning.

"So, what do we do?" Dawn asked, turning towards Ash, since it had been his idea in the first place.

Ash stared at the crack thoughtfully, as the other three waited for him to speak. He finally turned towards them as they looked on expectantly.

"I don't know."

The girls fell down animé-style and Brock sweat-dropped.

"You don't know?!" Dawn exclaimed. "Why did you bring us here for?"

"I thought it better to try to think of a solution after we actually _see_ the problem." Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders.

The three sighed. They should have expected it. Nonetheless, they decided not to waste anymore time, and started thinking of a way to escape from their deadly situation.

* * *

"You are kidding, right?" Professor Oak asked, horrified. Delia was too shocked to say anything.

Giovanni turned back at them. They were in the office, from where Giovanni had threatened Ash and his group about their death. They could see on the screens that Ash and his group were trapped inside that hundred-meter long passage with no hope to escape.

Giovanni snickered at their horrified expressions. With a quick flick, he changed the cameras on the screen, and showed them – much to their shock – that the water _was_ pouring in the particular passage. They could even see Ash and the others standing in front of the crack, staring at it as water kept on gushing inside.

"Why the hell are you doing this?" Delia yelled at him, tears pouring down from her eyes. She never wished for all of this to happen. Why fate was playing such a cruel game she didn't know, but right now, she certainly wished she could stop the crazy boss.

"I wasn't going to do this." The boss started with a sadistic grin on his face. "But, now that I have found out about those stone tablets, I don't need anyone – especially someone, who is just going to be a huge obstacle in my path."

Cackling madly, he left Delia and Professor Oak alone, leaving the cameras on for them to see their precious kid dying.

Delia kept on sobbing quietly, trying to hold it in. But what had happened so far, and knowing the fact that she would see her child for the last time, sent her over the edge. She couldn't stop herself from crying.

Professor Oak was sad, but he didn't cry, wanting to remain strong for the woman who loved Ash more than anyone else in the world.

"Don't cry, Delia." He said softly.

Hearing him, she turned towards him, still sobbing. "How do you expect me to not cry when my boy is on the verge of death?"

"I know that." Professor Oak, said, then sighed. "But do you think crying is going to help him? Right now, it is only us that know how to stop the gushing water and how to open those doors. You did see what Giovanni did right now, right?"

Delia slowly calmed herself down, knowing the old professor's words made the most sense. It was true that she was distressed that her boy could die right now, but it was only them right now who had a chance to stop it from happening.

"Look there." Professor Oak said, noticing that she had stopped sobbing.

Following his line of sight, Delia saw that he was looking at a timer that showed how much time was remaining for the whole passage to fill with water. The timer was counting down right now at 2:41 with the dots in the middle blinking once every second.

"We have at least two and a half hours to get rid of these chains and stop the water." Professor Oak stated. He then turned towards Delia, who still had smudges on her face, and continued. "Do you have an idea where the keys to open these chains could be?"

Delia looked thoughtful as she tried to recall if she had seen the key anywhere or not. After a while, she shook her head, indicating she didn't remember or recall anything like that. Professor Oak sighed. He had feared that.

He looked around the office. There weren't many things there. A few computer screens to keep an eye on everything, a desk and a huge window was all that was there in the office. Even the desk didn't have any drawer, so there was no chance for them to find a key – unless someone walked in and forgot his key.

Suddenly, the whole office shook and Professor Oak and Delia felt the floor move.

"What in the world…?"

They couldn't believe that the room was actually moving. Even though it wasn't possible to see it for themselves, they could easily feel the movement. They glanced at each other wide-eyed. What was happening around them?

Suddenly, the room stopped. For a moment, the two couldn't understand what was happening. Then suddenly, the room gave a jolt. Professor Oak, who had his back to the desk, rammed into the desk thanks to the sudden jolt. He hit his head hard on the side of the desk and closed his eyes, trying to lessen the impact. He suddenly heard a clink and slowly opened his eyes.

His jaw dropped when he saw what had fallen into his lap. It was a set of keys! He didn't know how they had appeared, nor did he care. This was the only time, he knew, they would get to free themselves.

"Delia!" He called her urgently. His urgent voice got her attention.

"What?" She asked. She noticed the set of keys almost immediately after and brightened up. Maybe now they would have a chance to help Ash.

Without needing to be told, she went up to the professor and took hold of the keys. With their back to each other, Delia started trying keys one after the other to see which one fit in. After five unsuccessful tries, the sixth key opened up the chains binding the professor.

"Great!"

The chain slipped from his wrists. Professor Oak started rubbing his wrists to get the blood flowing again and after a bit, released Delia as well. The two got up quickly and went up to the computer to check the timer. The timer showed 0:30.

"Thirty minutes?!" Delia exclaimed. "Wasn't it at 2:41?"

"I think the timer keeps on changing according to the speed of the flow of water." Professor Oak said grimly, after a bit of thought. "That means even if it shows half an hour, there is a huge possibility that Ash and the others have even less than fifteen minutes."

"But what are they doing now?" Delia asked. The screen that showed what happened to Ash was blank. It meant two things: either the camera was broken or the water had already reached to the level of the camera – which was at the top of the passage. She shuddered, and hoped that it was the former.

Suddenly, just like a few minutes ago, the room gave another shudder and then with a series of jolts started rising. The jolts came so frequently – they knocked the two off their feet. The two decided to wait for the jolts to stop before standing on their feet again. Both of their expressions showed that they had no idea what had happened.

With no camera to show them what had happened to Ash, Professor Oak just flicked the switch, hoping that Ash was still alive. Instead of stopping the timer, the timer changed from 0:30 to 0:20. Both of them were horrified.

Thinking that the switch worked the other way, Delia was about to flick it when Professor Oak stopped her.

"Don't!" He warned. "I think he has rigged it so that instead of stopping the water, it would increase its flow. The timer just shows that."

"Then what are we going to do?" Delia asked terrified.

"We'll have to leave right now." Professor Oak replied. "We'll have to go down ourselves and try to open the door from there. There's bound to be some kind of emergency switch or something. Let's go find it!"

Nodding, Delia followed Professor Oak, hoping that Ash and the others were safe.

* * *

"Alright, are you both ready?" Misty asked.

Max and Bonnie nodded. They had waited quite a lot of time to let those seven trainers inside wreck havoc, and now, the time seemed right. The two hadn't changed considering that they didn't have any spare on hand.

"Alright, go ahead." Cilan said, as Trip and Paul readied themselves at the edge of the hole. Clemont was at the side, ready to use his Aipom Arm if necessary.

The two kids jumped inside together. Like Ash had said, the hole was large enough to fit both of them together with Mewtwo. They had just about enough space to maneuver themselves. The bluish liquid had looked dense from outside – as Clemont stated, testing it – but now that they were really inside, they understood what Clemont exactly meant. The liquid stung to their eyes a lot.

It was strange. They were trying to go down inside the tube, but the liquid was pushing them back above. Other than that, dense as it was, it was strangely transparent and only stung their eyes – nothing more. It was real trouble trying to hold their breath down there, because of the amount of pressure it put on their lungs. But even though it was troublesome, the kids wanted to help Mewtwo, and so had already steeled themselves to go through any hardship necessary – not only to free Mewtwo but also take down Team Rocket. Besides, it gave them a kind of exhilaration that both of them had usually experienced while watching an exciting battle. They didn't understand it completely, but it was exciting to them all the same.

Just as they reached the bottom of the tube, there was a sudden jolt. It was so unexpected; both the kids ended up releasing all their breath right inside the tube and ended up swallowing quite a bit of that horrid-smelling liquid. They knew they didn't have much time, so they made a beeline for the hole above.

The others above had noticed the sudden jolt and had also seen them both release their breaths, so they were ready. As soon as their heads popped out, they pulled them out. Once outside, both Max and Bonnie started throwing up. It continued for quite a while, before Max, and then, Bonnie lied down on the cool grass, exhausted.

"What happened?" May asked, scrunching up her nose a bit. The liquid had a really horrid smell when she had smelled it during Clemont's experiment. Now that the two kids were completely covered with it from head to toe, she couldn't even bear the smell anymore. She wondered how the kids could bear it, covered like that.

Max got up and spat out some of the bluish liquid. "I ended up swallowing quite a lot of it."

"Me too," Bonnie added, still lying down, panting. "Never tasted something so horrible."

"What?!" Clemont exclaimed. "You ended up drinking it?!"

"Is that bad?" Iris asked, though she already had an idea.

"I don't know." Clemont said with a sigh. "I experimented with it but it is something new and different altogether. I have never seen a compound like that."

"Well, it knocks out pokémon." Cilan said. "So, it is possible that it has the same effect on humans."

"I doubt it." Clemont replied at once. "If it had the same effect, Max and Bonnie, both would have been knocked out as soon as their body came in contact with it – the same way as Mewtwo and the other pokémon. The fact that they didn't means there are some unknown effects to this particular compound. I don't know what they are, because I have never seen a compound like that before."

"But I have never heard of a chemical that has different effects on humans and pokémon." Misty said, confused. "How is that possible?"

"Exactly!" Clemont said, adjusting his glasses. "That was the exact reason why I was reluctant to let them go inside."

"I am ready, guys." Max finally said, getting up and gaining their attention. "We will be able to do it this time."

Bonnie nodded, getting up as well. It seemed like they were back to normal, but something seemed different about them. Although still reluctant, Clemont nodded.

The two kids went up to the hole and looked at Trip and Paul, who nodded. With a deep breath, the two jumped inside again. This time, they were able to hold their breaths longer as they quickly made their way below. Their eyes had gotten used to the dense liquid as well, as they didn't feel the liquid stinging them.

Once below, Bonnie, who could see directly above, nodded at Trip and Paul, who gave a thumbs-up. Turning towards Max, she nodded again. The two put their hands below Mewtwo's legs and with a nod, pushed against them.

Because the liquid was really dense, it was rather easy to push Mewtwo upwards, considering the weight of the heavy pokémon. They managed to push him almost a foot, before they felt Trip and Paul tugging on it. With another nod, they pushed against the unbreakable glass. The shove was enough to get Mewtwo's head out of the fluid.

As soon as the psychic-type's head came out, Paul and Trip caught it but it slipped through their hands almost immediately. Mewtwo went down again, surprising the kids below. Wondering what had happened, they quickly swam back up and popped their heads out.

"What happened?" Max asked, as the two rubbed their eyes to get rid of the liquid.

"That liquid is too greasy." Trip said. "We couldn't even get a good grip before he slipped out of our hands."

"If that's the case," Gary said thoughtfully. "I know! Max and Bonnie will move Mewtwo's hands above his head, and push him out again. You guys can hold his hands and pull him out."

"How does it help us?" Trip asked mockingly. "His hands are going to be just as slippery."

Gary sighed. "Apply some sand or dirt to your hands if you could. That should give you enough grip."

Trip shrugged. "Fine."

He and Paul went near the rock near them, and rubbed their hands over it. The rock was made of sand, which was a good thing. As they turned back, making sure their hands were full of sand, Max and Bonnie dived again. Going along with their plan, Max and Bonnie, each took hold of his hands and pushed them up over his head. Then, the two went below, and waited for the thumbs-up to continue.

As soon as they got the signal, they pushed again. This time within half a foot, Trip and Paul had their hands on each of Mewtwo's hands. The kids pushed against the glass, as Trip and Paul pulled with all their might. Mewtwo was already halfway out but they could feel their grip slipping.

"Hey Clemont, use that Aipom Arm of yours and help us! Quick!" Trip said, moving his hands to get a better grip on the psychic-type.

When inside the liquid, the density of the liquid itself supported the heavy weight of Mewtwo. But now that they were pulling him outside, they finally understood how heavy the pokémon really was.

Finally after another bit of struggle, they finally pulled out the legendary psychic-type out of the tube. Their job done, Max and Bonnie came out of the tube as well, with the help of Misty and Iris. May had already receded to the farthest corner of the clearing to avoid the horrible smell of the liquid. She still couldn't understand how the rest of them were even able to bear it.

Suddenly, they heard a huge noise, and to their shock, the sandy rock started moving. Not wanting to take any risk, everyone quickly disappeared inside the surrounding bushes, pulling Mewtwo with them, and stared as the rock split into two, revealing a huge hole below it. They gaped as they saw a whole building rising from the hole. The building had three stories and it came out and fixed itself in its place like a pieces of a puzzle.

"What in the world…?"

They were slightly dazed, but managed to get out of it.

"Hey, look at it guys!" Gary exclaimed, pointing at the sign on the top of the building. The others followed his gaze and saw a very, very familiar sign.

It was the sign of Team Rocket!

"I think we just found the Team Rocket headquarters!"

* * *

 **And finally, they have found the headquarters! Ash and Co. has only around 20 minutes to escape - meaning the water has already filled up to their chest level. Delia and Professor Oak have managed to escape from the office. Team Rocket has started taking drastic measures to stop this group of trainers who has always been an obstacle in their path. And what happened to the old TRio?**

 **So, quite a lot of things have happened in this chapter. Actually, I ended up writing this chapter in one sitting, so there might be some mistakes that I could have missed. Hopefully, this chapter is as good as it seems.**

 **Anyways, have a good day!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Welcome back everyone to the 26th chapter! Now, before we start, I would like to tell you a few things.**

 **1) Only a few chapters are left for this fic to end. I intend to finish it by the 30th chapter.**

 **2) I won't stick to any update schedule from now. I haven't been able to write any chapter in advance for the last couple of weeks.**

 **3) I can't guarantee how long the remaining chapters are going to be, nor can I tell when I will be able to update. But rest assured, I will update on a Saturday.**

 **4) There won't be any author's note at the beginning of any of the remaining chapters unless I want to tell something important before you read the chapter.**

 **And 5) I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 26

"Let us go!"

Delia pulled against her captor but the captor had her in a vice-like grip. No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't move her hand – not even an inch.

"Give up already!" The grunt, who was holding her, said, exasperated. "Don't waste my time."

"What made you think you could escape so easily, huh?" Another grunt, who was holding Professor Oak, taunted. "You are inside the headquarters. Don't forget that."

"As if we would." Professor Oak muttered.

Unfortunately for him, his captor heard him, and quickly punched him right across his face, much to Delia's shock. To her relief though, he wasn't injured.

"Don't you dare talk back!" The grunt said, his eyes flashing anger. Seeing the anger, Delia knew they would have to quietly follow their orders until they were sure they weren't being watched. Only then would they be able to escape.

The four soon reached Giovanni's office, and the two grunts shoved their captors in the office roughly. This time, they made sure the two were tied to the desk itself and were away from the keys of their chains. With another warning, they left them to their own devices, laughing cruelly at their situation.

Professor Oak sighed. "We screwed up really badly, I guess."

Delia simply nodded. She knew that they were in a hopeless predicament. As soon as she got caught, she had been wondering what had happened to her son, trying in vain to not think about the worst-case scenario. Even the screen that was showing Ash and company's situation had gone black. The timer had already reached zero.

When Delia noticed the timer, she hoped that Ash had managed to escape. She tried moving her hand a bit but couldn't. The grunts had made sure that this time they won't be able to move even an inch. She turned to look at the professor but he was no better off than her. She sighed.

Suddenly, the door opened. The two looked up and at once, they scowled.

"Had fun trying to escape?" Giovanni asked with a devious smirk.

The two prisoners decided not to speak at all. Giovanni didn't expect them to either. He turned towards the screen and noticed the timer. His smirk widened as he looked back towards them. They could see the madness in his eyes.

Giovanni didn't say anything and left the office. Delia and Professor Oak tried to do something about the chains that held them, but it just wasn't possible. They sighed.

Suddenly, the door flew open again and a third grunt appeared, dragging an injured James behind him. Professor Oak and Delia were horrified at the amount of injuries he had. The grunt threw him ruthlessly towards them and closed the door behind him.

The two tried to wake him up but he didn't budge even an inch. They couldn't even go and check if he was alright or not. It seemed like everything was against them. They knew and they could see that he was bleeding profusely but they couldn't go to help thanks to their predicament. They sighed, and closed their eyes. Soon enough, they were fast asleep – all the fatigue of trying to escape overtaking them.

Unknown to them, quite a lot of things were happening outside their prison.

* * *

"Have you found anything?" Brock asked, looking up from his work. His three companions shook their heads. Brock sighed, as they continued. "There has to be a way out."

The four were in a precarious situation. They were trapped in a hundred-meter long passage with both of its ends closed. At one end, there was a small hole that was releasing sleeping powder. At the other end, where they were standing, a large crack was releasing water. They had really less time to find a way out of there.

Brock had suggested that they should check the walls around them to see if they were connected to another passage or not. If they were, they could use one of their pokémon to break through it and escape. At the rate at which the water was pouring in the passage, they knew they had less time. So, without delay, they had gotten to work. The possibility was less, but Brock had thought it was worth checking.

Right now, they were in real trouble. The water had risen to their chest level already, and it was steadily rising. The air above them was soon going to be filled with sleeping powder – they could already smell the rather sweet scent of the air.

"I think we should get back to the water source." Dawn said, starting to feel woozy. "The sleeping powder has already started affecting me."

The other three looked at her, and then exchanged glances.

"I don't think we have any other choice." Ash said, as Serena went up to Dawn and supported her, in case she gets knocked out. They walked – rather swam – their way up to the other end, right up to the wall.

"I don't think we should waste any more time." Ash said, pulling out a pokéball.

"So you intend to break through here?" Brock asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course." Ash said, releasing Greninja.

"But what if there's water on the other side as well?" Dawn asked uncertainly. She didn't feel dizzy any more now that there wasn't any sleeping powder in the air. Serena seemed to have the same doubt as she looked at the guys and waited for an answer.

"That's a risk we will have to take." Ash said. "We can't go to the other side. It's bound to be filled with the sleeping gas. Even if broke the wall and the water flowed out, the gas is still going to knock us out. So, the only chance is breaking this wall."

The girls nodded. They hadn't thought about it, but after Ash mentioned it, they realized that he was right. They moved to the side as Ash went behind where Greninja was standing.

"Alright Greninja! Use your strongest Aerial Ace and break down that wall. Use it as many times as necessary. We don't have much time. We have still got to find Mom and Professor Oak. Go!"

Following his orders, Greninja dived inside the water. Being a water-type, he was adept at using any attack inside the water. He went a few meters behind and with amazing speed, attacked with his best Aerial Ace. Bouncing back, he saw that he had only managed to scratch the surface a bit.

"Go for it, Greninja!" Ash yelled, seeing Greninja stop. "Don't give up!"

Hearing the yell, Greninja at once went back, this time more distance than before, and once again, attacked with his best Aerial Ace. This time, there was a small crack in the wall. Greninja smirked. He continued ramming in the wall with Aerial Ace.

By the time there was a noticeable crack in the wall, the water had already filled up to their necks. The air had already started smelling quite sweet. The four nodded at each other, took deep breaths and dived down. Inside the water, they could see Greninja looking at the cracked wall.

The water-type turned towards them and nodded. Ash nodded back, and Greninja went back to attack with his full speed. Meanwhile, both Dawn and Serena were already feeling themselves suffocating. They didn't have much time before they got knocked out. They hoped that Greninja would break through the wall as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, Brock looked up and noticed that water wasn't rising anymore. He couldn't even see the water falling from the crack like it had been a few minutes before. In fact, the water had stopped pouring in like before. He wondered what had happened, but didn't dare go up. He looked towards the girls and noticed that they were barely holding their breaths. He knew that if he ended up getting knocked out, they wouldn't have any chance of doing anything. After all, how could Ash do both – protect them as well as his mother and the old professor?

Finally after three more Aerial Aces, the wall broke, and the water started receding beyond the wall. But the gap still wasn't enough. Greninja used a final Aerial Ace and completely broke the wall. The four quickly went through the wall and started panting. They were all completely wet head-to-toe making them shiver.

"Thanks Greninja." Ash thanked his pokémon and returned him. He turned back towards his friends. "Let's get going, guys!"

They started running away from the water-logged area, not bothering to wring the water out of their clothes.

"We'll have to take a long route to get back inside the headquarters." Brock stated, as they reached a junction. Serena quickly opened the map there, and soon enough, they were back on their way to the HQ. They didn't know about the changes in the levels of the HQ though.

* * *

"Hey Jess, do you see anything?" Meowth asked.

"No." Jessie replied.

The two were walking through the forest, quite badly injured. Fighting their enemy, they were blown out into the forest, separated from their friend, James.

"I can't believe how strong they got in such a short time." Jessie said, panting a bit and clutching her arm from where blood was dripping.

"Actually, something didn't seem right." Meowth said, suddenly sitting down with a thump. He sighed.

"What do you mean?" Jessie asked, joining him.

"The pokémon might seem normal to humans, but something was not right." Meowth replied, after a pause. "It seemed like they were controlled, yet they were not – if you understand what I mean."

"No, I don't." Jessie shot back at once.

There was a pause.

"What I mean is that some of the pokémon looked like they didn't want to move or attack and yet their actions were different." Meowth explained. "It was as if their brain was being controlled partly. In other words, while they could easily control their facial expressions, they couldn't control their attacks. The attack unit of their brains was being controlled by someone else."

"Is that possible?" Jessie asked, after a bit.

Meowth shrugged. "I don't know. It could be an upgraded version of their device that controls pokémon. It's too difficult to even guess now that we left the organization."

Unknown to the two, their conversation was overheard by a person. She had hidden herself as soon as she had heard their noise, and now, she decided to show herself.

"Who is it?" Meowth's voice came as soon as she moved.

"It's me." She slowly answered, appearing in front of them.

Both of their eyes widened as they recognized the woman in front of them. The woman smiled and from the bag she had on her shoulders, pulled out a bandage. She went to Jessie and started bandaging her arm after cleaning the wound a bit.

"What are you doing here?" Meowth asked surprised at the woman's presence.

"I had some work." The woman replied, tightening the bandage around Jessie's arm as the two listened to her. "As soon as I landed here, I saw this."

She pulled out a newspaper from the bag and handed it over to them. "It is today's newspaper. I was worried so I came here to check."

The newspaper's headline caught their attention at once:

'THE FAMOUS RESEARCHERS PROFESSOR OAK AND HIS GRANDSON GARY OAK HAVE DISAPPEARED'

The first two paragraphs of the article summed everything up:

'The famous Pokémon Researcher Professor Oak, who has lived in Pallet Town for the last twenty years, along with his grandson Gary Oak, has disappeared. Our reporter had gone to ask the researchers about the new pokédex and what he thought of mega evolution, and had discovered the famous professor's lab empty. The pokémon of various trainers that they took care of have also disappeared. There is absolutely no trace of anything.'

'Officer Jenny, who quickly came to check, has found that other than the lab, one of the houses of Pallet Town has been completely turned inside out. From the reports, it has been found out that it was the Ketchum household. The whole area has been taped off-limits to everyone. Neighbors are being questioned. So far, no clues have been found regarding it. Rumors are that the residents of the lab and the Ketchum household have been kidnapped.'

After the first two paragraphs, the article just contained photos of the lab and Ash's house, and the detailed information about what the reporter had found.

"You mean to say that Professor Oak and Ash's mother were kidnapped?" Jessie finally asked, getting over the shock.

"I don't know for sure." The woman replied. "I was going from above when I noticed you. At first, I thought you were part of Team Rocket, so I decided to capture you, but after hearing your talk, I doubt you are a part of Team Rocket."

"Of course we aren't." Jessie said.

"But where were you going?" Meowth asked curiously.

"I and my partner saw something interesting rising in the forest." The woman replied, petting her partner pokémon. "I think you should see it too."

The two raised their eyebrows at her, but the woman motioned towards her partner. Shrugging, the two climbed up on him, and he flew up. As soon as they were higher than the forest canopy, their jaws dropped.

"Isn't that…?" Jessie didn't finish her question.

The pokémon quickly flew back down, as the woman looked at the surprised expressions of the two.

"That's where I was heading." The woman replied and climbed up. "You should better rest."

After the advice, the woman took her leave. Jessie and Meowth stared after her receding figure.

"So that was where the headquarters had been all the time?" Jessie asked, turning towards Meowth.

"Well, she did say it was _rising_ from the forest. So, the building must have been underground, or we would have seen it from our balloon." Meowth replied. "Let's go."

"I have a feeling the others would be there as well." Jessie said, as the two started running in the direction of the HQ.

"And we have still got to get James out of there." Meowth replied.

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

"So, how about it?"

"Perfect."

"Giovanni, a call from everyone."

"Give it to me." Giovanni turned towards his assistant, and picked up the call from the other teams. All of them reported the same thing – that while the observatories were destroyed, they had modified the satellites a bit, and were ready with Plan B. Giovanni nodded.

"Plan B!" He yelled at the scientists, who were monitoring the satellites and their locations.

"Yes sir!"

"How much time left?"

"Six more hours!"

"Good."

Giovanni left the lab and started walking towards his office, his assistant tagging along. The two soon reached his office. Giovanni opened the door, and stopped, surprised to see a third person along with the two that had been kept there. He recognized the unconscious person immediately and sighed in exasperation. His sigh woke up the sleeping hostages. They scowled, but didn't bother saying anything. Giovanni turned towards his assistant, and waved towards James.

"Tie him up along with the other two."

She nodded and in a minute, had James tied up between Delia and Professor Oak. Just as she finished, the door opened again. All of them, except the unconscious James, looked towards the door. A grunt was standing there. Giovanni nodded at once.

"Sir, our target seems to have escaped. The wall which blocked off the escape towards the 9th division has been broken through. Right now, they are heading back towards the 1st division."

Giovanni nodded with a smirk. "It would have been disappointing if they had died there."

He motioned to the grunt to leave, and after a fleeting glance at the hostages, left the office himself. Meanwhile, Delia and Professor Oak exchanged relieved glances and sighed.

"They managed to escape! That's great!" Delia exclaimed.

"But the danger is still there." Professor Oak told her, before she completely forgot. "We are still locked in here, and it seems like it is going to take quite a lot of time for them to get here. We should find a way out; we can't depend on them, after all."

"Are you implying my son isn't dependable?" Delia asked, raising an eyebrow at the old professor.

"No, I am implying we shouldn't depend on them right now; they need to focus on themselves for the time being." Professor Oak replied at once.

"Yeah, that's right." Delia said, and sighed.

Suddenly, James coughed, attracting their attention. Delia and Professor Oak looked on as he slowly opened his eyes, confused. He shook his head and winced almost immediately.

"Are you okay?" Delia asked. He turned towards her and stared for a while. It took him a moment, but his memory cleared, and he remembered what had happened.

"Headache and some wounds," James replied, his voice still hoarse. "But that's about it."

"Well, that's good." Professor Oak said. After a pause, he asked, "Do you know where they can keep the keys for these chains?"

James shrugged and winced again. He was still injured badly and too much movement was really painful for him. Delia and Professor Oak exchanged glances.

"So what do we do now?" Delia asked. "There must be some way out of this."

"I don't know." Professor Oak said, shrugging his shoulders. "Unless we break these chains, we can't do anything."

Delia sighed. She hoped that a miracle would happen to save them all from this mess.

* * *

"Torterra, use Energy Ball!"

Torterra formed a green-colored ball in front of his mouth and fired it into the main entrance of the headquarters. The ball broke through the glass doors and hurtled right into the main desk in the outside room, exploding on contact. Everyone ran inside, taking advantage of the smoke that was produced from the blast, and releasing their pokémon.

"Alright everyone, use any of your attacks to make sure no one gets in the way!" Gary yelled, as their pokémon started attacking with their signature strongest attacks. In the meantime, they started searching for an elevator or the staircase – Serena had contacted them a few minutes after the HQ had risen from the ground, and told them that Delia and Professor Oak, if captured, must be somewhere inside the headquarters; they hadn't found them below in the jail part of the maze.

"Everyone, spread out!" Gary yelled again, taking charge as the hundreds of grunts present in the HQ pulled out their pokéballs. "Search every floor and every room! Don't leave any room unchecked!"

They had decided to use one pokémon at a time for each person – total six pokémon – so that they could have enough time to check every floor and advance upward. Since it was the HQ, they hadn't underestimated them. They knew there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of grunts in there. Taking care of each one separately would be stupid, so they had decided to attack everyone together, and make sure none of them would come after them.

Right now, they had ordered their pokémon to let themselves loose on them and not hold back at all, while they searched the lowest level – ground floor – leaving the basement and the maze part to the seven people there. They didn't know what had happened to Jessie, James and Meowth though. They had left Max and Bonnie outside to guard Mewtwo until he woke up.

In just fifteen minutes, they were done searching the ground floor – it was quite quick, for there were only a few rooms there. They soon came across the staircase, and called their pokémon quickly, for the grunts had started arriving from the upper levels. With another combined attack, they quickly made a way for them to continue.

As soon as they reached the first floor, they told their pokémon to stand at the edge of the flight of steps and attack as soon as they see a grunt coming, either from the upper levels or the lower level. It took them almost an hour to search every room on that floor. In the meantime, their pokémon's stamina had reduced quite a lot, since the grunts seemed to be coming indefinitely.

Without looking at each other, they quickly returned their pokémon, and released their second one, and made their way to the second floor. Once again, they separated, placing their pokémon on the edge of the staircase, and searched the whole floor. This continued until they reached the topmost floor.

Once again, while the pokémon stood at the edge of the stairs, they started searching the floor. They soon searched almost all the rooms on the topmost floor except one, which was locked. With a Brick Break from Electivire, Paul quickly broke the door.

The door flew away and revealed Delia, Professor Oak and a beat-up James.

"Delia! Professor Oak! James!" The girls quickly went in, and checked if they were alright, while the boys checked the remaining rooms.

"Find the keys! Quick!" Professor Oak said urgently, motioning towards the chains binding their hands and feet. "We probably have really less time remaining!"

"Here are the keys!" Trip said, appearing in the doorway with a set of keys in his hand. He threw them towards Misty, who caught it, and quickly found the required keys.

"Did you find Ash?" Delia asked, as soon as she was free.

"Yeah," Iris replied, helping the professor up. "They were dripping wet and cold, but otherwise unharmed."

"That's great!" Delia said, sighing in relief. "I was worried something had happened."

"What happened?" Cilan asked. "They just told us that you guys weren't there, and cut off the call almost immediately. They didn't explain what had happened to them."

"Oh, about that," Professor Oak explained to them what had been happening with Ash, as they listened with horrified expressions.

"This is plain murder!" May burst out.

"But if they are taking such drastic steps, we must be close to foiling their plans." Cilan stated.

Suddenly, there was an explosion, followed by a thud. They quickly ran outside to see that May's Skitty was out cold. Meanwhile, the rest of the pokémon were barely holding their own against the never-ending stream of grunts.

"Skitty, return!" May said, and nodded at the others.

Everyone quickly released their partners with whom they had spent the most time, and returned their pokémon to provide them some rest. The grunts started barging in, as they yelled. "GO FOR IT!"

Firing their signature attacks, they quickly made way for heir trainers to run. Three of them ran ahead to make way, and three ran behind to cover their backs. In this way, they were outside in a quarter of the time they wasted inside. On their way down, Misty quickly called Ash and the others and told them that they had found Delia and Professor Oak. Getting a relieved sigh and a nod in response, she smiled a bit and disconnected the call.

Once outside, they were relieved to see that they weren't followed by any of the grunts – albeit Cilan had a bad feeling about it. Max and Bonnie were relieved to see the old professor and their host back safe and sound. They reported that no one had come across them for the insanely long amount of time that they had gone.

In the meantime, Clemont noted that they had been gone for about five and a half hours; he and Cilan had returned during their absence from whatever work they had gone to do. Quickly calculating the time from the last he saw in the 'Kanto' file, he quickly noted that only half an hour was remaining for whatever Team Rocket was going to do.

He quickly called Dawn as the others wondered what he was going to say. Dawn picked up a few rings later.

"Hey Clemont!" Dawn said, recognizing the inventor. She looked completely fine, albeit still a bit wet.

"Hey Dawn, where are you all right now?" Clemont asked urgently.

"About to get out of this maze." Dawn replied, frustration evident in her voice. "If it wasn't for these grunts blocking our way, we would have been out sooner."

In the background, they could easily hear the noise of attacks colliding and exploding.

"Well then don't!" Clemont replied at once. Dawn raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hey Dawn! You can talk later! Help us right now." Serena's voice was heard, and soon after, was followed by another explosion.

"Quick! Tell me what you want us to do!" Dawn said immediately. "We'll do it if possible."

"Hand over to Brock!" Clemont barked, and Dawn followed his order.

"What is it, Clemont?" Brock asked, not looking at the screen.

"Listen and listen carefully, Brock." Clemont said urgently, gaining his attention. He quickly told Brock what to do in the following half an hour. Brock nodded at intervals, only interrupting for a query.

After a few minutes, Brock nodded. "We'll do it!"

He disconnected the call almost immediately, and Clemont sat back with a sigh.

"Are you sure this will work?"

Clemont looked towards Max who had asked. He shook his head slowly and sighed again. "I am not sure. If their position is as bad as I think it is, I doubt they will be able to pull it off. All we can do right now is trust them and hope they will be successful."

The others lost a bit of their hope when he said that, but they couldn't just hopelessly think that they would be successful. This certainly wasn't a time to blindly believe that something would happen. If they want it to happen, they would have to make it happen themselves.

"So, I guess we have just got to play the waiting game, right?"

Everyone turned towards the source of the voice. A woman appeared from behind a tree. Her presence made their jaws drop right to the ground.

"Cynthia?!"

* * *

"How much time is left?" Giovanni asked, through the intercom.

One of the scientists, who were working in their lab, answered his question.

"Thirty minutes." He said.

"Is there any way to do it earlier?"

"There might be. The satellites will be in our range after another five minutes. It is possible to start with our plan then, but we can't guarantee its success."

There was a pause as Giovanni thought a bit about it. After a moment, he nodded. "Start after ten minutes. I will be busy so you will start at the exact moment without my orders."

"Yes sir."

"Don't you think you are rushing a bit?"

Giovanni turned towards his assistant, who stood just behind him, with a curious look on her face. Giovanni grunted.

"It doesn't matter." He replied. "If my calculations are right, after ten minutes, the whole Kanto will be in range."

He gave a sudden evil grin. "Thirty more minutes, and the whole world will be ours."

* * *

 **So... what is Cynthia doing there? That question must have occurred to you, right? Well, I can't say I can tell you right now, but there are some reasons. Anyway, don't forget to review this chapter!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 27

"Five seconds to go!"

"Four…"

"Three…"

"Two…"

"One…"

"Now!"

The head scientist pressed the red button. The screens monitoring the satellites showed that the first one was in range. Another twenty minutes and the rest of the satellites would be at the required places, the scientist noted. He turned towards the other screen and observed that Kanto and a bit of Johto region were covered. He nodded to himself and placed a call to his boss.

Giovanni picked up the call himself. After the small conversation and a nod from him, the call was disconnected. He smirked to himself, knowing that there was almost no chance they could do anything. Basically, if they wanted to stop him now, they would have to do it in the next twenty minutes – that is, before the plan was successful. He was quite sure they would dare to, but even if they did and he assumed that they could be successful, there was no way they would be able to do it in less than twenty minutes. Besides, they wouldn't want to die by their own pokémon's hands, would they?

* * *

"What is happening?!" May exclaimed as she saw all of hers and her friend's pokémon get out of their pokéballs and make their way towards the headquarters.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Gary muttered, noticing the blank stares of the pokémon.

"It seems like they started with their plan earlier." Clemont said, getting the others' attention. He had one of his inventions in his hand and was staring at the screen. The screen showed some kind of variations – about what, they didn't know.

Clemont stared at the screen for some more time. "My invention is picking up some kind of electromagnetic signals. I am pretty sure it is coming from inside the headquarters, somewhere near the ground."

"What kind of signals exactly?" Cilan asked, approaching the inventor.

"I think the signals have got something to do with our pokémon's weird behavior." Clemont replied. "It seems to me that they decided to start early with their plans and now, we can't get out pokémon to listen to us."

"That sounds bad." Misty muttered, looking at her Starmie. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Dedenne!"

Everyone turned towards Bonnie to see her running after a blank-eyed Dedenne. Dedenne didn't respond, much like their pokémon.

"Dedenne!" Bonnie caught up to the electric mouse and pulled it back. At once, she was greeted by a thunder. After a good ten seconds of letting the electricity pass through her, Dedenne stopped and ran away, leaving a severely burnt Bonnie behind. The other pokémon followed as the trainers ran up to the blonde girl to check on her.

She coughed up a bit of smoke, and shook her head. "It's been a long time since I got shocked so badly."

Misty chuckled quietly, recalling how she had gotten shocked by Pikachu.

"Anyway, what do we do now?" Cilan asked, gaining their attention. "We certainly can't simply barge in. Their pokémon could easily kill us."

"What do you say, Cynthia?" May asked, turning towards the Sinnoh champion. Although she was curious why the champion was present there, she decided to ask her later about it.

Cynthia looked thoughtful. Suddenly, they heard some movement in the bushes. They quickly snapped their attention and readied themselves for an ambush – _probably._ A few seconds later, the bushes parted to reveal Jessie and Meowth.

While Cynthia wasn't surprised one bit, the others were astonished at their appearance. After all, hadn't they been inside with James?

 _I thought they had just gotten separated._ Misty thought, as she saw her friends getting over their surprise and helping them. _What the hell exactly happened with them?_

"Hey Jess, look! James is fine!" Meowth said, pointing at the resting James. Jessie followed his finger and saw that he was bandaged. The injuries looked bad but it looked like that had been taken care of. She nodded, too tired to speak.

"What happened with you guys?" May asked, motioning towards James.

Seeing that Jessie was too tired, Meowth started.

* * *

 _"It almost seems like they are letting them have fun for the last moments of their life – and that because they know they will be able to control them." Jessie said._

 _She exchanged glances with James and Meowth._

 _"We have got to find a way to stop them." Meowth said._

 _"Yeah, but how do you want to do it?" James asked. "It's not like we can just get to their command centre and wreck it."_

 _"Maybe you are right." Jessie said thoughtfully. James raised an eyebrow at her reply._

 _"Anyway, let's check the map." Meowth said, shrugging off Jessie's answer. They went to a junction and opened the map. Soon enough, they spotted their target, and started making their way there._

 _Just as they rounded a corner, a sudden explosion occurred right in front of them, throwing them into the wall behind them. Before they could do anything, they felt someone's hand checking their pockets and taking their pokéballs. The smoke from the explosion stung their eyes so they couldn't see who the thief was. But they didn't need to think who it was. Given their location and situation, it was quite obvious that one of the grunts was the culprit. It was a pity, though, that they wouldn't be able to specifically point him out if they ever saw him again._

 _Jessie and James tried to stop the thief by trying to catch his hand but they weren't successful. As soon as the presence of the grunt was lost, another explosion occurred right at their feet, just beside James._

 _The force of the explosion was enough to send Jessie and Meowth flying, while James, who had been a bit at the side, was thrown against the wall. A few stray shards from the explosion tore his clothes at places as well as burnt and injured him. Right before he fell unconscious, he heard a small grunt and saw their attacker smirk a bit. Then, everything went black._

* * *

James finished. It wasn't really a long episode, but it was more than enough an account that told them concisely what exactly had happened.

Meowth shook his head. "We never got a chance to fight back."

"Hey guys, don't you find it weird?" Clemont asked, staring hard at Meowth. Meowth felt a bit unnerved seeing the inventor stare at him.

"What?" Max asked curiously.

"Meowth is a pokémon, right?" Clemont asked, glancing at the young boy. Bonnie realized what her brother was getting at.

"Then why isn't he in their control like the rest of our pokémon?" She asked, turning towards the normal-type.

Meowth sweat-dropped. "Hey, don't stare at me. I haven't designed their equipment."

Clemont suddenly remembered what they had read in the 'Kanto' file. With that in mind, he quickly took hold of the Scratch Cat pokémon, much to the others' surprise and pulled out a magnifying glass. Meowth struggled against the surprisingly strong vice-like grip of the inventor as he stared at the coin on the top of Meowth's head.

Bonnie realized what Clemont was doing for she too had read the file. For some reason, she didn't need to ask for an explanation for Clemont's strange actions, while the rest of them looked confused.

"What are you doing, Clemont?" Max asked.

"Weaknesses: Tin and Steel," Bonnie replied at once, casting a meaningful glance.

For a moment, no one understood her, but then, Max's brow cleared. He nodded slowly. "I see what you mean."

"Stop being so mysterious and tell us what is going on!" May exclaimed, obviously fed up with the cryptic actions of the three. Max shook his head a bit and explained to her what was going on. While he explained to them, Bonnie, having spent most of her time with her brother, helped Clemont with some tests he wanted to perform on Meowth's oval-shaped coin, much to the feline pokémon's horror. That coin meant quite a lot to him and he certainly didn't intend to let someone he had known for the least amount of time, take it.

Seeing his actions, Bonnie quickly took hold of him and pulled him away from Clemont, who was busily working with chemicals. In a couple of minutes, Clemont was done and he returned the coin back to Meowth who snatched it back and placed it at its rightful place. Clemont seemed thoughtful as the others exchanged questioning glances.

"So what is it?" Cilan asked curiously.

Clemont opened his mouth to say something, but then he stopped moving. Instead he gaped at whatever was behind Cilan. The others followed his line of sight and started gaping as well.

Before another word could be said, there was a tremendous explosion. Clemont wished Ash's group luck before the force of the explosion knocked him unconscious.

* * *

"What was that explosion?" Dawn screamed as the passage they were in started shaking suddenly. Her question went unanswered as the thick walls of the passages started bending; dents appeared in every panel of the wall and the ceiling wherever they looked.

The grunts they had been fighting had already left, running to see what had happened and leaving their group to fend against this unknown quake for themselves. The quake lasted a few seconds before subsiding completely.

Brock and Ash got up, and helped Dawn and Serena on their feet. They looked at the distorted passage as they dusted off their clothes. Exchanging questioning glances, they started walking towards the room where Mewtwo had been kept. They hoped they could reach their destination in good time.

Walking over the inclined, slippery floor proved to be difficult than they had anticipated though. The floor was so clean that it proved difficult for their sneakers to get a good grip on them, especially where the floor was inclined at a really steep angle.

"I have a really bad feeling about that explosion." Brock muttered. It seemed like Ash felt the same way as he exchanged glances with the trainer. _This is getting out of hand._

It was a bit difficult to figure out the familiar way now that it had become unfamiliar, thanks to the new twists and turns. But they managed to get to their destination and they were greeted by a chaotic sight.

The room was nothing like it had been before when Ash had been there. The computers were all broken – some even burnt – and they could hear the crackling of electricity through one of the many exposed wires. The screens were cracked, the keys were forced out, and even the walls were dented. But the one thing that captured their attention the most was the tube in the center of the room – it was broken completely.

Ash knew that the glass was really tough and durable as apparent now since they could see the base of the tube. Seeing it broken like that seemed to unnerve him a bit. The glass bits were spread everywhere – on the floor, embedded in the walls and even inside the monitors. Apparently, the tube had exploded. The smelly liquid that had kept Mewtwo unconscious was on the floor as well. Since the tube had contained Mewtwo, the four trainers could only come to a single conclusion – that something had happened that had made Mewtwo break the glass.

Suddenly, the room started shaking again. The boulders that were being barely held by the metal panels inside the room started falling. Without waiting for a word, the four left the room and ran into the corridor they had just come from. No sooner had they ran inside the passage than the room they had just been in collapsed completely, leaving behind a pile of rubble.

Serena's feet suddenly gave way and she went down on her knees, realizing how close to death they had been twice in a day. Neither of the remaining three could blame her for it. Even Dawn who had had a few close shaves before was barely standing. Her knees were trembling badly and her legs were screaming at her to rest. She decided to answer her legs' protests and sat down suddenly.

"Well, our job is done it seems." Brock said, motioning towards the pile of rubble.

Ash nodded. "But I don't think our job is done yet."

"What about others? Are they all okay?" Serena asked trembling a bit. Her quivering wasn't visible though – she was slowly getting over it.

"We won't know until we check." Brock said as he helped Dawn up. "Let's go."

Since the roof of the room had caved in, they could see the ground above them. All they needed to do was climb up the debris and then on the ground. It would have been a rather easy job if it hadn't been for the sight outside that froze them on the spot. The sight made them realize that they certainly didn't have much time to take down Team Rocket.

It was Mewtwo.

Right there, floating in the air, with a blank-eyed stare, Mewtwo stood, gazing towards the forest away from the destroyed HQ.

 _That explosion must have been Mewtwo's doing._ Brock figured out. _And he has destroyed the front of the HQ. But it seems like he's under their control._

And so it was. Giovanni stood on the terrace at the top of the headquarters with a smirk on his face. Beside him was one of their scientists with some kind of strange machine in his hands – almost looking like a downgraded version of the latest Holo Casters. While most of the HQ was destroyed thanks to Mewtwo's attack, Giovanni seemed unconcerned about it.

"Let's go." Ash said, climbing up the pile of debris in front of them. His voice snapped the rest three out of their stupor, and they followed his lead. The four were soon out in the battlefield standing in front of the controlled Mewtwo who was now on the ground.

"Brock, Serena, Dawn," Ash said, gaining their attention, "go find the others, and if anyone is injured treat them."

"But what about you?" Serena asked worriedly.

Ash gave a small smile. "Thanks for worrying about me, Serena, but the others probably need immediate care right now." He glanced towards the smirking Rocket boss. "I have a feeling they must be badly injured and in need of someone to take care of them."

"And don't worry. He won't be alone." A voice said.

Ash, Dawn and Brock could recognize that voice anywhere. The three turned towards the source of voice simultaneously. "Cynthia?!"

"What are you doing here?" Dawn asked, astonished at the Sinnoh Champion's presence.

Cynthia smiled a bit. "I had some work, but I heard a rather interesting piece of news and came to check here. Unfortunately, I also got pulled in this mess."

Ash rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Sorry, I guess."

Cynthia raised an eyebrow at the apology. As far as she recalled, she didn't remember that the trainer owed her an apology. Seeing her questioning look, Ash explained about Team Rocket's goal. Cynthia had a steely look in her eyes by the time he finished.

"I see." She muttered thoughtfully, and turned back towards the smirking boss.

"It's too bad I guess that we don't have any pokémon."

It was Clemont. He had regained consciousness and right now, was being supported by Serena. Slowly, the rest of their group appeared as well. Ash had to smile at the support they were showing just by appearing. He turned back towards Giovanni who seemed to be saying something to the scientist beside him. As soon as he was done talking, hundreds of grunts appeared from inside the HQ with all of their pokémon beside them.

"Everyone!" Giovanni's voice came from the megaphone he held in his hand. "Finish every one of them!"

The group of trainers narrowed their eyes as he continued. "And Ketchum, you better not make any unnecessary moves, or…"

With that, another grunt appeared with – to the horror of the trainers – Delia and Professor Oak. Both of them were tied and gagged. They were brought right up to the edge of the terrace and kept there. The grunt, who had brought them, pulled a couple of knives out of his pocket and held them both at their throats. The group was too shocked to make a move at all.

Ash felt his anger rise. He had never encountered such a precarious situation before, where every move he made mattered. Right now, he couldn't even directly run towards his mother and hope that she would be all right. Giovanni was keeping an eye on him and if he moved even a millimeter suspiciously, it would be the end of both of the people he cared for.

And it wasn't only he who was in this condition. He was pretty sure that the sadistic boss would do the same thing if any of the others made a move. Even if by some miracle his mother and the professor would turn out to be okay, there was no telling what the horde of grunts in front of them would do if they moved recklessly. For the first time in his life, Ash realized why the many trainers he had met on his journey moved cautiously.

He wanted to save the two elders he cared the most for at all costs. After all, he had never had a father and the old professor had acted like a father figure to him, teaching him things that a father should. It was a risky situation he was in and he had no idea how to get out of it.

"Alright everyone, now!" Giovanni's voice broke through his thoughts. The grunts who had been impatiently waiting for their boss's orders moved quickly and ordered their pokémon to attack. Ash's group had no choice but to run. Their pokémon weren't with them and they couldn't find them in the horde of the chasing pokémon. They needed some time to think of a way out.

"Brock!" Ash called, dodging a shadow ball. "Call Officer Jenny! Tell her to bring as many officers as she can!"

"On it!" Brock shouted back.

"Guys! We'll have to separate!" Gary yelled at the top of his voice as he dodged another shadow ball. "Or we'll get caught at once!"

"Are you stupid?" Clemont yelled at him from behind. He was the last in the running group of trainers. "We'll get caught much more easily if we separate! What we need right now is a plan!"

"And how are we going to think of a plan when we are being chased like this?" Misty shot back from far ahead. She was one of the faster runners in the group and could easily outrun most of them. She and Ash were running the first, followed by May, Gary and Iris, and then Dawn, Cilan, Serena and Brock. Clemont was bringing up the rear with Jessie, James and Meowth.

"Hey guys, where's Max and Bonnie?" Iris asked, noticing their absence.

"What?!" Clemont and May skidded to a stop as did everyone.

"Not again!" Gary groaned in annoyance. "We'll be surrounded!"

Gary was quite right, for almost as soon as they stopped, the grunts appeared and surrounded them. Much to his chagrin, there didn't seem to be any opening around them. Even if they did manage to escape, he wasn't quite sure that they would be safe; he had noticed that some more pokémon with the same kind of blank expression on their faces had started arriving through the thick foliage. Gary felt pretty sure that they were from Viridian City and Pallet Town, since those two were the nearest towns around them. It seemed like he had forgotten that they could as well be wild pokémon.

Nonetheless, they were in a really bad situation. While May grumbled about Max's disappearance, Clemont was trying to think of way out.

"Clemont!" Ash called as he tried to find an opening.

"Let me think!" Clemont yelled back.

And then, suddenly, everything seemed to happen way too fast. The pokémon that had arrived and surrounded them suddenly started falling asleep. The grunts noticed it and looked around – giving the group the opening they needed. Without exchanging a word, they nodded and took advantage of the situation. Although some of the grunts' pokémon were ready to attack, their attacks were easily dodged.

Each of the trainers pushed through the wall of grunts surrounding them, punching and trampling some in the process. In a short time, they managed to free themselves. Just as they readied themselves to run, a huge thunderbolt appeared out of nowhere and shocked the grunts, burning them to a crisp. Many of the grunts were already knocked out, and the few that somehow managed to remain conscious looked to be in too much pain to continue.

Officer Jenny appeared through the bushes along with a Manectric by her side. Soon enough, they were surrounded by police officers from all sides. The group gave them thumbs up and then started retracing their steps. This would probably be their only chance to catch Giovanni before he made his escape. As they left, Misty glanced back once again to see some of the pokémon waking up.

Soon, they were back to the HQ, where Giovanni was standing with an angry scowl on his face. The group gaped at the sight – not at Giovanni's scowl, but at seeing Max and Bonnie tied down at his feet. In fact, instead of being terrified of Giovanni, the two kids had wide smiles plastered on their faces.

Giovanni seemed to have lost his temper, and jerked his foot back ready to kick Max in the face. "You brats!"

With that, he swung his foot. His foot was about to hit Max, but stopped in midair. The sudden stoppage took him by surprise. He tried to pull his foot back but couldn't. It was Clemont and his Aipom Arm that stopped the physical assault.

"You better not try that again." Clemont said in a dangerously calm voice. It was the first time they had heard him say something in such a tone of voice and it sent shivers down their spines – even Ash and Serena, who had travelled with him.

Clemont pressed a button on his backpack and almost at once, they audibly heard a crack. Giovanni cried out so suddenly that they almost jumped. The Aipom Arm retraced its path back and returned to the backpack as Giovanni sat down, clutching his leg in pain.

Taking the opportunity, Cilan, Brock and Serena, along with Meowth, went to the two kids. Meowth quickly slashed through the ropes, and then followed Brock into the HQ to go and release Delia and Professor Oak, who were still on the top of the building watching all the action.

"What happened?" Serena asked. "We were worried about you two, you know."

"We'll tell you later!" Bonnie replied quickly. "Right now, we need to do something about Mewtwo. He's gone berserk!"

Just as she said that, there was another huge explosion. They felt a shockwave passing through them with such force that it knocked them off their feet. The shockwave was followed by a gust of wind that sent branches of trees and dust flying. Some old trees even got uprooted. The force was enough to tell everyone that it certainly wasn't a regular pokémon that had attacked.

"The shockwave came from west." Clemont said, checking something on his device. He had already checked on his sister and friend and was relieved to find them without any injuries. And then the shockwave had come and knocked them off their feet. At once, Clemont had whipped out another of his device to monitor the shockwave.

"Let's go then." Ash said, before glancing at Giovanni. "I doubt he would be able to do anything."

"I think you are right." Cilan said.

"Ash! Everyone!"

Everyone turned back to the source of the voice, relieved. Ash was enveloped in a tight bear-hug. His mother hugged him and started crying tears of joy. Gary hugged Professor Oak, glad to see him back safe and sound. They joyful reunion would have continued if it wasn't for another shockwave that sent them flying. This shockwave was far stronger than the last one, Clemont noticed. It could mean either of the two things: a stronger attack was launched or Mewtwo was a lot closer.

It was the latter for as soon as the shockwave passed, Mewtwo appeared above the HQ building looking angrier than Ash had ever seen him. Suddenly a white force field surrounded Mewtwo. Ash's eyes widened as he realized the move.

"Guys! Brace yourselves! He is using Psystrike!" He yelled at the top of his voice. Just as he yelled, the white force field started expanding rapidly. Everyone brought their hands in front of them, bracing themselves. If the shockwave had been strong enough to knock them off their feet, there was no telling what the attack itself could do.

Seconds passed but the attack never made contact. Instead, there was a huge explosion, covering the whole area in smoke. Everyone slowly opened their eyes to see what had happened. They were greeted by a surprising sight. In front of them stood a Gyarados and a Poliwrath – Misty's – a Ludicolo – Brock's – an Electivire – Paul's – a Crustle – Cilan's – and a Sylveon – Serena's. All of them had used Protect and created a barrier around their trainers to save them from the dangerous move.

Each of the pokémon had a happy reunion with their respective trainer – that is, except Ludicolo, who was happy that he had blocked a legendary pokémon's move and was dancing. But Mewtwo didn't seem impressed. In fact, he looked even angrier – if that was possible. He readied himself and this time attacked with a Psyshock. All the pokémon responded at once and attacked with their signature attacks. The remaining pokémon who couldn't use Protect also attacked Mewtwo directly.

"Hey Clemont. Did that file mention how to calm a rampaging pokémon down?" Serena asked worriedly.

"No." Clemont replied at once. "I don't think they even considered that possibility."

"Then how are we going to stop him?" Iris asked.

"Hey Mewtwo!"

Everyone, including Mewtwo, turned towards the source of the voice. It was Brock. He was standing at the top of the HQ, looking down at them. The trainers on the ground gaped at him. Was he mad – calling a rampaging legendary pokémon like that? But Ash knew Brock well. He must have had an idea that made him do the reckless-looking move.

It worked, for Mewtwo at once started making his way towards him. As soon as the psychic-type came in front of a curiously intact part of the HQ, Brock yelled. "Now! Max! Bonnie!"

At once, a crack appeared in the intact part of the building and then, the horrible smelly liquid, in which Max and Bonnie had taken a dip, started gushing out with full force – directly onto Mewtwo. The sudden appearance of the liquid took everyone by surprise as Mewtwo was knocked out by the liquid. Everyone was stunned to see how easily Mewtwo was defeated by this liquid.

 _This must be the reason why Mewtwo never got a chance to fight back._ Ash thought, looking at the out-cold psychic-type pokémon. _They must have bathed him with this liquid._

Suddenly, the tank burst completely and much to the others' astonishment, Max and Bonnie tumbled out, once again covered with the liquid. As soon as the two landed, they threw up quite a bit of the liquid that had somehow managed to go into their stomach and lied down, panting.

"Don't tell me you drank the liquid again." Gary said with an amused expression on his face.

Max glared at him. "Maybe I should mix some of this liquid the next time you decide to drink some water."

Gary shook his head. "No thanks. I am fine just like this."

"Hey what about Giovanni?" Meowth asked, looking where he had been before Mewtwo had attacked.

There was a hole in the ground in the shape of a man. Inside, there was Giovanni with blood trickling down many of his body parts. Brock quickly went near him and check for his pulse. The others waited in anticipation for his diagnosis.

"He's barely alive." He announced after a while. The others heaved a sigh of relief, for even though, they hated him with all their heart, they couldn't let him die in front of them.

"Is everyone alright here?"

Everyone turned to see Officer Jenny standing just outside the clearing with a concerned look on her face.

"Everything's fine here, officer." Cynthia replied with a smile.

"Cynthia?" The officer seemed surprised to see the Sinnoh champion here.

Cynthia shook her head in amusement. "I don't see what's so surprising about seeing a region's champion in another."

The rest of them chuckled. May turned towards Max and Bonnie. "You guys are going to tell us where you had disappeared and how you ended up in front of Giovanni with those idiotic smiles on your faces."

The two exchanged glances and shrugged. Bonnie started.

* * *

 _"Alright everyone, now!" Giovanni said through the megaphone._

 _Bonnie, nearest to the bushes, jumped inside them. She saw Max about to run with the rest of them and quickly pulled him inside the bushes with her._

 _"What the…" Max started, before realizing that it was Bonnie who had pulled him._

 _"What now?" He whispered to her, although he was pretty sure his voice wouldn't be heard in the noise of hundreds of people running. Bonnie gestured to him to wait. The two waited and watched as the whole horde of grunts followed their friends._

 _"Alright now!" Bonnie said, running towards the HQ. She was being so cryptic that it frustrated Max. Nevertheless, he followed her into the HQ reception. Bonnie was waiting there just out of range of Giovanni's vision._

 _"Alright, now tell me." Max said. "Why didn't we go along with them? We can't leave our friends just like that."_

 _"Think through here, idiot!" Bonnie replied, pointing towards her head. "Giovanni is going to focus on Ash most of the time, so he wouldn't notice us slipping away from the rest of the crowd."_

 _"So, you are using them as a decoy?" Max questioned, thinking where she was getting along with this._

 _Bonnie nodded. "There's no telling what he would do once he was out of their sight. Someone needs to be here to keep an eye on him."_

 _"I get it." Max said, slowly nodding. "And we can think of a way to destroy the machine as well."_

 _"Right! Let's go now. We've got to reach the terrace."_

 _"But wait! What if there are some more grunts in here?"_

 _"I doubt that. Knowing the strength of his subordinates, Giovanni must have made sure that only he and that grunt would be on the top. Even the scientist who was with him ran after Ash."_

 _"To make sure no one escapes?"_

 _"Probably."_

 _"Well then, let's go."_

 _The two quickly made their way up the stairs. When they reached the second floor, Bonnie noticed something and told Max to go ahead. Agreeing, Max went ahead, wondering what Bonnie had found. He soon reached the terrace door and peered out. All he saw was the grunt who had knives at Delia's and Professor Oak's throats, Delia, Professor Oak, and Giovanni himself. They were at the opposite side of the terrace. Max wondered how he was going to go near them undetected._

 _He heard footsteps coming up the stairs and soon, saw Bonnie's blonde head appear at the base. He beckoned to her. As she neared him, he saw her holding a couple of narrow pipes – almost like staffs – with one of them bent to ninety degrees at the end._

 _"What are these pipes for?" He asked her curiously as she handed him one._

 _"Our weapons, of course!" Bonnie replied as if it was a normal thing in the world._

 _Max gaped at her. "And how are we supposed to protect ourselves from those dangerous knives?"_

 _"We don't have to." Bonnie replied. "Just do what I say. Take this straight one and hit Giovanni in the head. I will use the other one to pull that grunt away from Delia and Professor Oak."_

 _Max looked unsure as he took the rod. Before he could say anything though, Bonnie had already stepped onto the terrace. Reluctantly, Max followed. The two quietly sneaked within a foot of the evil people. They exchanged glances and nodded._

 _With as much force as he could muster, Max hit Giovanni on the head hard. The sudden attack took the sadistic boss by surprise and he almost lost his balance. He managed to regain his balance in the last second though and snarled at Max. Max swung the rod again at his face, but this time, he was ready. He caught it and made sure to not let it go._

 _In the meantime, Bonnie had used the bent part of the rod to pull the grunt away from the professor. She had somehow managed to remain undetected when she had put the bent end of the rod right in front of the grunt's neck. Taking the opportunity, she pulled hard. The sudden force took the grunt by surprise and he dropped his knives to the ground far below. The grunt himself fell down on the ground, rubbing his neck._

 _Not wasting the opportunity, Bonnie quickly extended her hand and then pulled at her bent staff hard. The bent part, this time, was placed precisely between the grunt's legs. The grunt didn't even make a noise as he felt the rod hit his crotch. He started rolling back and forth, clutching the hit area and trying to ease the pain._

 _Bonnie, meanwhile, quickly placed a few accurate hits at the back of the grunt's neck, knocking him out successfully. After that, she quickly hit the machine, which was at the edge of the terrace, sending it down into the rubble below, destroying it completely. Satisfied that what she had thought had gone according to the plan, she turned to check on Max and was shocked to see him in Giovanni's hands. Giovanni had his hands on his neck and it was quite obvious that Max was gasping for breath._

 _She swung the rod at Giovanni, who caught it, and pulled it towards him. The sudden tug took Bonnie by surprise and she walked a few steps – right into Giovanni's hands. Giovanni looked absolutely pissed off. He knocked their heads together, putting them in a daze, and quickly tied their hands and feet tightly, making sure that the knots couldn't be opened._

 _"You brats!" Giovanni spat out. "How dare you!"_

* * *

"And that's how it was." Max said.

"He dragged us down towards the ground." Bonnie said. "In fact, I was quite sure that he would throw us over the edge. I guess, he was so angry that he didn't think of it."

Meanwhile, the audience was gaping at the two, wondering if what they heard was true or not. They turned towards Delia and Professor Oak, who nodded. In fact, they themselves had had a hard time believing what they had seen and it had actually happened right in front of them.

"Bonnie, you should have been with the G-Men." Iris said, shaking her head. "I can't believe you actually dared to do that."

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders. "I never thought about what would happen to me if anything went wrong. I guess some of Ash's recklessness has rubbed off on me."

Everyone chuckled at her statement.

"Alright, everyone!" Officer Jenny said, getting their attention. "Come along to the police station. You will all be needed for questioning."

All of them nodded. Only Cynthia sighed and shook her head. "I haven't done anything here, officer. If it isn't much trouble, I would like to leave. I have some other jobs to do."

After a moment of thought, Officer Jenny nodded. If the champion hadn't done anything, it would be stupid to waste both of their times. Before Cynthia left, Dawn asked why she was there.

"You do remember how I am interested in history, right?" Receiving a nod, Cynthia continued. "Well, some archaeologists here have found a strange stone tablet in one of the caves near the coast of this region. They say it is written in completely different language from the other stones they had found. They have asked me to try and decipher those letters. Apparently, it must contain some hidden secret that shouldn't be made public – at least that's what I think."

Brock whistled. "It must have interested you quite a lot for you to come out all the way here."

Cynthia simply smiled in response. "I must go now."

"Wait Cynthia!" Professor Oak said suddenly. He looked a bit thoughtful before continuing. "There's something rather interesting here."

"What?" Gary asked curiously.

"Let me think a bit, Gary." The old professor said, and soon, went on to tell what Giovanni had told them. Cynthia's interest peaked more and more as he continued.

"I see." Cynthia said, nodding slowly after the professor had finished. She nodded again. "If what he said was true, there's a chance that these tablets are scattered all over Kanto – or for that matter, all over the world."

She turned towards the rest. "Everyone, if you ever come across a tablet, make sure to call and show it to me. I have a feeling it is going to be a historical discovery."

With that, Cynthia left, leaving the rest looking after her. May stretched herself as much as she could and sighed. "I guess this is all finally over."

Her statement drew relaxed sighs from the remaining trainers.

"I think I can finally sleep now." Cilan said, yawning widely. They had remained awake since last night, and were ready to fall asleep at any moment. "Let's go now. I am pretty sure I can sleep for the rest of the month."

And so, everyone left for the Oak's lab. Even as they went, something kept on nagging Max that not everything was done yet. And he was quite right.

* * *

 ** _Somewhere in the ocean between Kanto and Sinnoh_**

A lone fisherman was just heading to his home after his day at the sea. He hadn't caught a magnificent haul, but had caught enough to feed his family of three. He was about five or so miles offshore, and the sun was just setting as he decided to head back.

As he started the motor of his boat, he noticed a moving shadow beneath. The water was quite dark so he couldn't quite make out what was there, but he was quite sure it was huge, since the shadow seemed to spread quite a lot. Suddenly, the living thing, whatever it was, jumped out of the water, towards the fisherman.

Only a single word escaped from the shocked fisherman's mouth as the pokémon crushed him beneath its weight. The single word was:

"Kyogre."

* * *

 **And that finishes the main fic. Sure, I mentioned Kyogre but he isn't going to do much until TFM-SA. And well, I did think that it would take at least four more chapters for the fic to end, but I guess I guessed it wrong.**

 **Anyway, only a single chapter is remaining, which I hope to complete by the next week, and then, I will start with the sequel 'The Future Masters - Sinnoh Arc'.**

 **Until then, ameyab97 signing out~!**

 **P.S. Most of the next chapter is probably like a filler (like some banter and trainers leaving for their own journeys and the like) so you can skip it if you want. The only thing that you might want to read is what the smelly liquid does to human body and why the hypnotized pokémon went to sleep after the machine broke. Anyway, h** **ave a nice day!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!**

* * *

CHAPTER 28

"Alright then, I will head to the Alola region next!" Ash said, nodding.

It was the day after the boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni, was caught. Everyone was well-rested. The questioning at the police station had been done quickly and they had managed to get quite a lot of rest. It was nearing midday as they all returned to the lab to talk.

Professor Oak had told Ash about another region he hadn't travelled _yet_ – the Alola region. Adventurous as ever and ready to take on a challenge, Ash had decided to go there.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Ash?" Clemont asked, looking at him. He had a bandage on his head to cover the injury he had procured when he was knocked unconscious by Mewtwo's Psystrike.

"What are you talking about?" Ash said blankly. He couldn't recall what he was forgetting.

Bonnie sighed. "Challenging the Kalos Elite Four – did you forget that?"

A light suddenly dawned on Ash. He gave a shout of surprise. "How could I forget about it?"

He got up so suddenly that the chair he had been sitting in tumbled backwards. He didn't bother to pick it up; instead, he took hold of Serena's wrist – she had been sitting beside him – and bolted towards Clemont. "Come on, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie. We've got to go!"

"But Ash what about your training?" Clemont asked as he too got up. Bonnie got up as well, but she had a thoughtful look on her face.

"I will train in Kalos! We have already wasted quite a lot of time here!" Ash replied quickly.

"But Ash! At least let me get my backpack!" Serena squealed. Ash let go of her at once and Serena darted towards the girls' room.

"Be quick!" Ash called after her.

The rest of the audience – which consisted of Misty, Brock, May, Dawn, Clemont, Bonnie, Max, Delia and Professor Oak – chuckled at Ash's impulsive juvenile behavior. The trainers who weren't there had already left for their respective regions to continue on with their journeys.

Serena soon appeared and went to stand beside Ash, waiting for Clemont and Bonnie to join. She did feel a bit sad about leaving her new, yet close friends behind but she knew they could keep in touch over the long distances. Clemont sighed and went up to the two. He turned back and saw the thoughtful expression on his sister's face. It made him curious.

"Is something wrong Bonnie?" He asked curiously.

His question seemed to snap her out of her trance. She shook her head. "Nothing is wrong. I was just wondering if I am ready to go on a journey yet. I would like to leave right now, if possible."

Her statement took Clemont aback. "But don't you think you are being rather hasty about it? You still have a year before you turn ten."

"I know that but," Bonnie sighed. "I think it's a stupid rule that you should be at least ten before starting your journey."

This time, many of the others were taken aback. Clemont shook his head. "It's a rule because the first ten years should be spent learning how to catch and raise pokémon, and take care of them – basically, learning the basics."

"Well, I did learn the basics." Bonnie shot back. "Didn't I take care of Dedenne and Squishy right from the time they were with us?"

"Dene!"

The antenna pokémon also supported his caretaker's statement. Clemont didn't know what to say. His sister did have a point. She had been taking care of Dedenne right from the time he had caught him and she was the one who had managed to make a friend out of Squishy. Being a big brother though, he still was worried for her.

"Are you sure, though, that you can take care of yourself?" Clemont asked with a bit of concern.

"I can. I have been doing everything without Serena's help even though she kept on asking if I needed any." Bonnie retorted. "Besides, even if I couldn't, how do you think I am supposed to learn to stand on my own two feet if I have someone older than me keeping an eye on what I do?"

"Calm down, Bonnie." Clemont said, bringing his hands in front of him defensively. "I am only concerned because I care about you. It's got nothing to do with me being your big brother."

"She's right, Clemont."

Clemont turned back to see Ash with a smile on his face. Ash put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed a bit. "I know she can take care of herself quite well. She's got plenty of pluck. Don't forget how she released all the controlled pokémon, even when there was no guarantee that she would be successful."

Bonnie felt embarrassed at the praise and scratched the back of her head.

"And what she said was quite true. She never asked for my help – not even once."

It was Serena this time. She too had a smile on her face. "I think she will be fine. Whatever else she needs to learn can be learnt from experience. It will be hard, but it will be worth it. Like they say, experience is a hard teacher because she takes the test first and teaches the lesson afterwards. You haven't forgotten about my first showcase failure, have you?" Serena shook her head. " She'll be fine. Just let her go."

Clemont felt a bit unsure, but his friends had a point. He usually trusted their decisions, and it wasn't going to change now. So, he let himself get convinced. "Fine, you can go."

Bonnie was elated. She tackled her brother in a bear-hug. "Thanks Clemont." She said sincerely.

Clemont smiled. The others watched with smiles on their faces at the sibling interaction.

"One thing though." Clemont said seriously. Bonnie looked up at him curiously. With a mock glare, he said, "You better not be as reckless as Ash is. I don't want to hear from anyone about your heroic actions."

"Hey!"

Everyone started laughing as Ash tried to convince Clemont in vain that he wasn't that reckless. Finally giving up, he joined in the laughter as well.

Soon, it was farewell time for Ash. With smiles on their faces, everyone waved goodbye as Ash, with Serena and Clemont by his side, left. Each of them wished Ash luck for his challenge against the Elite Four and the champion.

As soon as they disappeared round the curve, Max sighed. "Your brother is awesome, Bonnie. If I would have said something like that to May, she would have flew off the handle and would have hit me in the head."

His statement was greeted at once with a punch in his head. He clutched his head in pain as May glowered at him. "Did you just say something?"

Max turned towards Bonnie, who was chuckling quietly. "See what I mean?"

"You better be on your guard, Max." May said with a wicked grin, as she cracked her knuckles. "You are going to regret it."

"I am sorry!" Max yelled, running as fast as he could.

"Wait right there, Max!" May ran after him, with clenched fists, ready to hit her brother at a moment's notice.

The rest of the audience burst out laughing as Max ran, trying to dodge May by keeping some distance between them. Bonnie was glad she had chosen to go on her own journey, and that her brother had relented. If this was how it was going to be travelling by herself, she couldn't wait to start.

"Come here, Bonnie." Professor Oak said, getting her attention. Bonnie went up to him curiously as she watched Max apologizing to May with May glaring at him.

"What is it?" She asked.

The professor handed her a brand-new pokédex and six pokéballs. Bonnie realized what was going on.

"This is your pokédex. Don't misplace it." Professor Oak said, giving her some instructions. He pointed to one of the six pokéballs. "This is Dedenne's pokéball; your brother handed it to me. Since you and he already know each other, I am not giving you any starter pokémon. I am pretty sure both of you can work well."

"Yes, we can." Bonnie replied excitedly. Now that she had a pokédex and pokéballs, she was trying hard to fight the impulse to sprint towards the airport for her journey.

The old professor smiled at her excitement; he could easily understand it. Before she ran away to plan about her journey though, he continued. "Another thing is I have kept a license in your pokédex that allows you to challenge gyms as well as participate in contests and showcases. It's up to you to decide what you want to do. Just make sure to not delete the license, because without it, you will be thrown out of any contest you could have participated in. Make sure to register at a Pokémon Centre, since they are the official registration sites."

"Alright." Bonnie nodded. "Can I leave for a journey now?"

"Are you sure you want to go alone?" Misty asked curiously. It certainly surprised her.

"Huh? Who said I was going alone?" Bonnie said, turning to face her. "Max will be with me."

"Huh?" Both Max and May looked up from their fight towards her.

"Hey! You can't decide that for me!" Max shouted at her.

"Do _you_ want to travel alone?" Bonnie asked back.

Max looked a bit thoughtful. After a bit, he conceded. "I guess we will travel together. It would be too boring travelling alone."

Bonnie grinned widely at him. "Let's go then."

"Not so soon." Brock said, interrupting any further conversation. Both Bonnie and Max turned towards him inquisitively as he continued. "You still need to learn to make food for yourselves and your pokémon, and some basic medical skills as well. Don't go hastily like Ash always would."

"I remember that pretty well." Max said, nodding his head. "It was a good thing you met us when you did, Brock, or we would have had to go hungry for that day."

Brock nodded with a smile. "It will be better if you stay here a few days and at least learn those basics as well. And of course, _both_ of you need to learn to cook; just in case you get separated."

Both of them nodded. It would be better if they didn't depend on a single person to make food. And so, both of them decided to stay on for a few more days to learn how to make both human and pokémon food, and learn some basic medical knowledge – and a few blood tests as well.

During the time they stayed, both of them puked once in a while. While they didn't particularly feel unwell, their sudden 'puking sessions' concerned their friends. When none of his advocated medicines worked, Brock grew concerned and decided to perform a few blood tests to see what exactly was wrong.

It was while both of the kids were in the kitchen that Brock finally saw the problem. He saw traces of bluish liquid in their blood as well as some abnormal activity of the blood cells. In fact, the blood cells were being produced at twice the usual rate in both the blood samples. It was as if someone had fast-forwarded the kids' growth, because it wasn't only the blood cells that were reproducing fast. After a few more tests, Brock came to the conclusion that their bodies as a whole were reacting to the bluish liquid and the metabolism of their bodies was working at twice the usual speed.

 _I guess that's why they kept on throwing up._ Brock thought. _Their bodies must be having a hard time keeping up with that speed and must be trying to throw out whatever remaining liquid that might have remained in them. But does that mean it affects their brain as well? Is there a possibility that they could have some mental problems – or advancements?_

Brock sighed. While it was possible to keep tabs on physical health, mental problems couldn't be diagnosed until there were some symptoms that indicated otherwise. He decided that it was no use letting others worry about it. He decided to do their blood tests every few months to keep track of their health. He said as much to the two kids, who decided to follow his instructions.

Soon, it came time for them to leave as well. During the few days' stay, Max learnt how to heal diseases while Bonnie mastered the art of cooking. As a farewell gift, Brock handed them the respective books which could enhance their skills. Bonnie was given a book that had hundreds of recipes for both human and pokémon while Max had a book that could help him diagnose any infection and ways to heal it. As a final advice, Brock told them to learn each other's skills as well, just in case.

With that, it was farewell time for the two. Along with Dawn, they left for Sinnoh to start on their first journey.

* * *

 **I just had to include the Alola region here, because I know that the XY series is soon going to end. While I am excited for Pokémon Sun and Moon, I have no idea what is going to happen to Amourshipping when the series finally ends, but let's hope it does end up being canon. (Although it is stupid to hope for that, since it is a 'kids' anime, right?)**

 **Anyway, this finishes the eight-month-long journey. It's been fun working on it and the support I got for it was really motivating. In fact, when I first started it, I thought that maybe I would get thirty or so followers, and just as much faves for the story. So, you can imagine my surprise when the followers kept on increasing until it crossed a hundred. That became a huge motivation for me to continue with my writing.**

 **I would like to thank all the readers as well as the followers and reviewers with all my heart at the successful completion of my first-ever story.**

 **Thank you everyone for sticking by this story until its end!**

 **Let's meet again at the start of 'The Future Masters - Sinnoh Arc'! See ya!**


	29. Thank You Everyone

**For those who are interested, I have uploaded the first chapter of The Future Masters - Sinnoh Arc.**

* * *

 **It's just been a few days since the completion of this fic but before I go, one last time, THANK YOU EVERYONE for supporting me through this story. It has been a great experience for me.**

 **The truth is that I had never actually thought about writing until the middle of the last September - September 2015. By that month, I had read quite a lot of stories and I had loved many of them, from the plot to the series of words the authors used to write. And then, I suddenly got it into my head to write and post my own story. I started with the first chapter (which most, if not all, of you must have read) and well, I just let my mind think of the words. In fact, I never really thought of the plot in-depth until I had posted the tenth chapter. It was then that I realized that there could be plotholes in the story. That forced me think and decide the plot.**

 **The thing is that I love plot-based stories. Stories who feature protagonists with some goal in their mind is what makes me love those stories the most. Many stories and authors had motivated me to write this story. A few of them are listed below:**

"Don't Let Me Down" by Emperor SS  
"Lights Of Laverre" by EllisW  
"Amourshipping: One Day Off" by 123pearlshipping  
"Battles of the Past" by Mightyena's Shadow  
"A Trial Of Will" by aboz567  
"Ash's Realization" by SuperPokeGirl123  
"I'm Stuck in a House Full of Girls" by hellfire15  
"Thunder and Ice" by Shadow Snivy  
"Facade" by aboz567  
"When We Were Young" by QuartzClaw  
"Heartbeat" by EllisW  
"Pokémon: The PAL Chronicles" by BookPrincess32  
"PAL: The Dark Chronicles" by BookPrincess32  
"The Blue Spirit" by silentplayermc03

 **The underlined ones are one of the best stories I have ever read and I recommend you to check each of them out. For the rest of the stories/oneshots I really liked, check them on the favorites list on my profile :)**

 **Once again, thank you all for your support and I hope I can keep you interested with my next story!**

 **~ameyab97**


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